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more about desolate
desolate |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Desolate \Des"o*late\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Desolated}; p. pr & vb n. {Desolating}.] 1. To make desolate; to leave alone; to deprive of inhabitants; as the earth was nearly desolated by the flood. 2. To lay waste; to ruin; to ravage; as a fire desolates a city. Constructed in the very heart of a desolating war. --Sparks. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Desolate \Des"o*late\, a. [L. desolatus p. p. of desolare to leave alone, forsake; de- + solare to make lonely, solus alone. See {Sole}, a.] 1. Destitute or deprived of inhabitants; deserted; uninhabited; hence gloomy; as a desolate isle; a desolate wilderness; a desolate house. I will make Jerusalem . . . a den of dragons, and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant. --Jer. ix 11. And the silvery marish flowers that throng The desolate creeks and pools among. --Tennyson. 2. Laid waste; in a ruinous condition; neglected; destroyed; as desolate altars. 3. Left alone; forsaken; lonely; comfortless. Have mercy upon for I am desolate. --Ps. xxv. 16. Voice of the poor and desolate. --Keble. 4. Lost to shame; dissolute. [Obs.] --Chaucer. 5. Destitute of lacking in [Obs.] I were right now of tales desolate. --Chaucer. Syn: Desert; uninhabited; lonely; waste. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: desolate adj 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" [syn: {bare}, {barren}, {bleak}, {stark}] 2: pitiable in circumstances especially through abandonment; "desolate and despairing"; "left forlorn" [syn: {forlorn}, {godforsaken}, {lorn}] 3: crushed by grief; "depressed and desolate of soul"; "a low desolate wail" 4: made uninhabitable; "upon this blasted heath"- Shakespeare; "a wasted landscape" [syn: {blasted}, {desolated}, {devastated}, {ravaged}, {ruined}, {wasted}] v 1: leave someone who needs or counts on you leave in the lurch; "The mother deserted her children" [syn: {abandon}, {forsake}, {desert}, {lurch}] 2: reduce in population; "The epidemic depopulated the countryside" [syn: {depopulate}] 3: devastate or ravage; "The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion" [syn: {lay waste to}, {waste}, {devastate}, {ravage}]
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