des·o·la·tion

(dĕs′ə-lā′shən, dĕz′-)

1. The act or an instance of desolating.

2. The state of being desolate.

3. Devastation; ruin: a drought that brought desolation to the region.

a. The state of being abandoned or forsaken; loneliness: a sense of utter desolation following the death of his parents.

b. Wretchedness; misery.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

desolation

(ˌdɛsəˈleɪʃən)

1. the act of desolating or the state of being desolated; ruin or devastation

2. (Psychology) solitary misery; wretchedness

3. (Physical Geography) a desolate region; barren waste

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

des•o•la•tion

(ˌdɛs əˈleɪ ʃən)

n.

1. an act of desolating.

2. the state of being desolated.

3. devastation; ruin.

4. loneliness.

5. sorrow; grief; woe.

6. a desolate place.

[1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	desolation - the state of being decayed or destroyed devastation deterioration, impairment - a symptom of reduced quality or strength ruin, ruination - an irrecoverable state of devastation and destruction; "you have brought ruin on this entire family" blight - a state or condition being blighted
	2.	desolation - a bleak and desolate atmosphere; "the nakedness of the landscape" bareness, bleakness, nakedness gloominess, glumness, gloom - an atmosphere of depression and melancholy; "gloom pervaded the office"
	3.	desolation - sadness resulting from being forsaken or abandoned forlornness, loneliness sadness, unhappiness - emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being
	4.	desolation - an event that results in total destruction devastation ruination, ruin - an event that results in destruction

desolation

noun

1. misery, distress, despair, gloom, sadness, woe, anguish, melancholy, unhappiness, dejection, wretchedness, gloominess He expresses his sense of desolation without self-pity.

2. bleakness, isolation, loneliness, solitude, wildness, barrenness, solitariness, forlornness, desolateness We looked out upon a scene of utter desolation.

3. ruin, destruction, havoc, devastation, ruination The army left a trail of desolation and death in its wake.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

desolation

noun

A desolate sense of loss:

blankness, emptiness, hollowness, vacuum, void.

Translations

إقْفار، غَم شَديد

bezútěšnostskleslost

fortvivlelsetrøstesløshed

Verlassenheit

abandon désolation

kietlenségvigasztalanság

einmanalegur staîur; einmanaleiki

desolazione devastazione

ensomhet trøstesløshet

desolação

bezútešnosť

yapayalnızlık

荒芜

desolation

[ˌdesəˈleɪʃən] N

1. (= deserted state) [of landscape] → desolación f

2. (= grief) [of person] → desolación f, desconsuelo m

3. (= act) → asolamiento m, arrasamiento m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

desolation

[ˌdɛsəˈleɪʃ^ən] n

(= feeling) → désolation f

(= devastation) → désolation f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

desolation

(of country by war) → Verwüstung f

(of landscape) → Trostlosigkeit f

(= grief) → Trostlosigkeit f; (= friendlessness) → Verlassenheit f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

desolation

[ˌdɛsəˈleɪʃ/ən] n (bleakness, grief) → desolazione f (liter) (devastation) → devastazione f

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

desolate

(ˈdesələt) adjective

1. (of landscapes, areas etc) very lonely or barren. desolate moorland.

2. very sad, lonely and unhappy.

desoˈlation noun

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Three of them ran something like the following, but I do not pretend to quote: -- Sacred To the Memory of John Talbot, Who, at the age of eighteen, was lost overboard, Near the Isle of Desolation, off Patagonia, November 1st,

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For fear the desolation And darkness of thy mind, Perplex an habitation Which thou hast left behind.

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They had been accustomed to each other's appearance, and to the gradual operation of hunger and hardship upon their frames, but the change in the looks of these men, since last they parted, was a type of the famine and desolation of the land; and they now began to indulge the horrible presentiment that they would all starve together, or be reduced to the direful alternative of casting lots!

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The very sunlight looks desolation, falling through the thick-blossoming apple-trees as through the chinks and crevices of deserted Egyptian cities.

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and beauty; now it is a scene of desolation and misery."

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One had the sense of being under the brooding contemplation of a spirit, not an inert mass of rocks and ice--a spirit which had looked down, through the slow drift of the ages, upon a million vanished races of men, and judged them; and would judge a million more--and still be there, watching, unchanged and unchangeable, after all life should be gone and the earth have become a vacant desolation.

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This learned dissertator, however valuable for his industry and erudition, is yet more to be esteemed for having dared so freely in the midst of France to declare his disapprobation of the Patriarch Oviedo's sanguinary zeal, who was continually importuning the Portuguese to beat up their drums for missionaries, who might preach the gospel with swords in their hands, and propagate by desolation and slaughter the true worship of the God of Peace.

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There were no trees, no shrubs, no grasses - naught but a tremendous and terrible desolation that sent fear swiftly dawning into his eyes.

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Poor Maggie listened with a trembling lip; she could say nothing but a faint "Thank you, I shall be grateful"; and she walked back to her lodgings, through the driving rain, with a new sense of desolation. She must be a lonely wanderer; she must go out among fresh faces, that would look at her wonderingly, because the days did not seem joyful to her; she must begin a new life, in which she would have to rouse herself to receive new impressions; and she was so unspeakably, sickeningly weary!

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He can stalk through dwelling after dwelling, leaving despair and desolation behind him, but the table must be laid, the dishes washed, the beds made, by somebody.

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And if not, how is he to be prevented from carrying desolation into the ranks of his comrades?

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As the water spread the weed followed them, until the ruined villas of the Thames valley were for a time lost in this red swamp, whose margin I explored, and much of the desolation the Martians had caused was concealed.

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