desolate meaning and definition

DESOLATE verb

Definition of desolate (verb)

1. leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch
   • "The mother deserted her children"
   • synonyms: abandon, desert, forsake
2. reduce in population
   • "The epidemic depopulated the countryside"
   • synonyms: depopulate
3. cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly
   • "The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion"
   • synonyms: devastate, lay waste to, ravage, scourge, waste

DESOLATE adjective

Definition of desolate (adjective)

1. providing no shelter or sustenance
   • "bare rocky hills"; "barren lands"; "the bleak treeless regions of the high Andes"; "the desolate surface of the moon"; "a stark landscape"
   • synonyms: bare, barren, bleak, stark
2. crushed by grief
   • "depressed and desolate of soul"; "a low desolate wail"