What does "desolate" mean?
To deprive of inhabitants.
Desolate
/ˈdɛs.ə.lət/ adj, verb
adj, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: To deprive of inhabitants.
- Grammar: desolate is listed as adj, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: barren, bleak, abandon, abandoned.
- Useful contrasts: cheerful, comfort, comforted.
- Usage evidence: The town was desolate after the flood.
How to use "desolate"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "desolate" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "desolate" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "desolate" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "desolate" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "desolate" is acting as adj, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "barren" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "desolate", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To deprive of inhabitants.
"If you consider well of the People of the West-Indies, it is very probable, that they are a newer or younger People, than the People of the old World. And it is much more likely, that the destruction that hath heretofore been there, was not by Earthquakes, […] but rather, it was Desolated by a particular Deluge: For Earthquakes are seldom in those Parts."
- 2 cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly wordnet
- 3 To devastate or lay waste somewhere.
"Then Moath pointed where a cloud Of Locusts, from the desolated fields Of Syria, wing’d their way."
- 4 reduce in population wordnet
- 5 To abandon or forsake something.
"It is not to be supposed that when Cush left Armenia, he left it desolate, and that a rich and long settled country was abandoned altogether; for it would be an absurd way of founding an universal empire, to desolate one country in order to people another."
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch wordnet
- 7 To make someone sad, forlorn and hopeless.
"It is not altogether uncommon to hear a reader whose heart has been desolated by the poignancy of a narrative complain that the writer is unemotional."
Adjective
- 1 Deserted and devoid of inhabitants.
"a desolate isle; a desolate wilderness; a desolate house"
- 2 Barren and lifeless.
- 3 Made unfit for habitation or use because of neglect, destruction etc.
"desolate altars"
- 4 Dismal or dreary.
- 5 Sad, forlorn and hopeless.
"He was left desolate by the early death of his wife."
Adjective
- 1 crushed by grief wordnet
- 2 providing no shelter or sustenance wordnet
Example
"The town was desolate after the flood."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "desolate"?
Common synonyms include: barren, bleak, abandon, abandoned, acarpous, acheronian.
How do you use "desolate" in a sentence?
The town was desolate after the flood.
How do you pronounce "desolate"?
Pronounced /ˈdɛs.ə.lət/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English desolat(e). See Etymology 2 and -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more.
Etymology 2
From Middle English desolaten (“to desolate”), from desolat(e) (“desolate”), from Latin dēsōlātus, perfect passive participle of dēsōlō (“to leave alone, make lonely, lay waste, desolate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) for more.