- desolate
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adj.1. barren or laid waste; devastated: a treeless, desolate landscape.2. deprived or destitute of inhabitants; deserted; uninhabited.3. solitary; lonely: a desolate place.4. having the feeling of being abandoned by friends or by hope; forlorn.5. dreary; dismal; gloomy: desolate prospects.v.t.6. to lay waste; devastate.7. to deprive of inhabitants; depopulate.8. to make disconsolate.9. to forsake or abandon.[1325-75; ME < L desolatus forsaken, ptp. of desolare, equiv. to de- DE- + solare to make lonely, deriv. of solus SOLE1; see -ATE1]Syn. 1. ravaged. 2. desert. 4. lonesome, lost; miserable, wretched, woebegone, woeful, inconsolable, cheerless, hopeless. DESOLATE, DISCONSOLATE, FORLORN suggest one who is in a sad and wretched condition. The DESOLATE person is deprived of human consolation, relationships, or presence: desolate and despairing. The DISCONSOLATE person is aware of the efforts of others to console and comfort, but is unable to be relieved or cheered by them: She remained disconsolate even in the midst of friends. The FORLORN person is lost, deserted, or forsaken by friends: wretched and forlorn in a strange city. 6. ravage, ruin. 8. sadden, depress. 9. desert.
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Universalium. 2010.