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[ US /ˈdɛsəˌɫeɪt, ˈdɛsəɫət, ˈdɛzəɫət/ ]
VERB
  1. leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch
    The mother deserted her children
  2. cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly
    The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion
  3. reduce in population
    The epidemic depopulated the countryside
ADJECTIVE
  1. providing no shelter or sustenance
    barren lands
    the desolate surface of the moon
    the bleak treeless regions of the high Andes
    bare rocky hills
    a stark landscape
  2. crushed by grief
    a low desolate wail
    depressed and desolate of soul

How To Use desolate In A Sentence

  • The huanaco, happily for it, exists in a barren, desolate region, in its greatest part waterless and uninhabitable to human beings; and the chapter-heading refers to a singular instinct of the dying animals, in very many cases allowed, by the exceptional conditions in which they are placed, to die naturally. The Naturalist in La Plata
  • It is patent that dusk found them weary and worn, plodding and wading silently "homewards," shovel on shoulder, across four or five kilos of desolate mud; falling and tripping over stagnant bodies, masses of tangled wire, bricks and jagged wood-work everywhere impeding progress. Norman Ten Hundred A Record of the 1st (Service) Bn. Royal Guernsey Light Infantry
  • Aren't you a spoiled child, without the childness and the spoiling, to go and write in that plaintive, solemn way about 'help of some connexions of Jane's in Glasgow,' as if you were a desolate orphan Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle
  • Among the most desolate sandhills you may find in July acres of wax-white pyrola – like lilies of the valley splashed with pink – covering the plains between the lonely ridges of harsh, grey grass. The Spring of Joy: A Little Book of Healing
  • From the dark streets of the city, whether lit by a single streetlamp or brazenly flashing neon signs, to the desolate coastline, where Marlowe is first blackjacked by an unknown assailant, there is no safe haven from disorder and danger. Caught in the Crossfire: Adrian Scott and the Politics of Americanism in 1940s Hollywood
  • Judah and Jerusalem desolate then this credit of the prophets, and the hopes of the people, will both sink together; the former will be found false in flattering the people and the latter foolish in suffering themselves to be imposed upon by them, and so exposed to so much the greater confusion, when the judgment shall surprise them in their security. Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume IV (Isaiah to Malachi)
  • Sparing us all the obligatory arguments about Ford “defining the American West” with his sweeping, desolate camera shots and Wayne’s anabashedly American Americanness, there’s just no denying that Ford and Wayne — tag team partners on more than 20 films — are simply one of the most prolific duos in celluloid history. Top 10 Actor / Director Tandems In Movie History | Best Week Ever
  • But they are not being forced to stay in this desolate place against their will.
  • The name Cyclopean, attached to those desolate remains of buildings which were older than Greek history itself, attests their romantic influence over the fancy of the people who thus attributed them to a superhuman strength and skill. Greek Studies: a Series of Essays
  • With the leaving of the cars, East Hampton transformed from the rarified vacationland it had been, to just another lonely and desolate, Long Island small town. Jack Hannibal: Running on Clouds
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