desolation
The act of desolating or laying wasteThe act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation.
» The desolation left in his wake is staggering.
kiryopi · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
3 senses(countable, uncountable)The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation.
Verwüsten, Verwüstung
(countable, uncountable)The state of being desolated or laid waste
Verwüstetsein, Verwüstung, Verlassenheit
the state of being decayed or destroyed
(countable, uncountable)A place or country wasted and forsaken.
Ort des Elends, Wüstung, Wüstenei
Examples
3 sentencesThe desolation left in his wake is staggering.
The feeling of desolation entered my heart; I sorrowed in tears, and life almost became a weariness.
The Sahara is a sea of desolation.
Translations
2 languagesBy meaning 3
Origin
Inherited from Middle English desolacioun, from Middle French, Old French desolacion f, frInherited from Middle English desolacioun, from Middle French, Old French desolacion f, from Latin dēsōlātiō f.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: desolations| Singular | desolation |
|---|---|
| Plural | desolations |
regular
Synonyms
11 synonyms- an event that results in total destruction:devastation
- a bleak and desolate atmosphere:bleaknessbarenessnakedness
- the state of being decayed or destroyed:devastation
- sadness resulting from being forsaken or abandoned:forlornnessloneliness
Word family
1 related wordsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.