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.
      
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   2. To lay waste; to ruin; to ravage; as, a fire desolates a
      city.
      
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            Constructed in the very heart of a desolating war.
                                                  --Sparks.
      
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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.
      
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            I will make Jerusalem . . . a den of dragons, and I
            will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an
            inhabitant.                           --Jer. ix. 11.
      
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            And the silvery marish flowers that throng
            The desolate creeks and pools among.  --Tennyson.
      
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   2. Laid waste; in a ruinous condition; neglected; destroyed;
      as, desolate altars.
      
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   3. Left alone; forsaken; lonely; comfortless.
      
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            Have mercy upon, for I am desolate.   --Ps. xxv. 16.
      
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            Voice of the poor and desolate.       --Keble.
      
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   4. Lost to shame; dissolute. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
      
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   5. Destitute of; lacking in. [Obs.]
      
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            I were right now of tales desolate.   --Chaucer.

   Syn: Desert; uninhabited; lonely; waste.
        
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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}]
     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}, {scourge}]

200 Moby Thesaurus words for "desolate":
   abandoned, acarpous, acheronian, afflict, aggrieve, agonize, alone,
   anguish, annihilate, arid, bare, barren, black, bleak, break down,
   bring to ruin, bring to tears, celibate, cheerless, childless,
   comfortless, condemn, confound, consume, crush, crushed, cut up,
   damn, dark, daunt, deal destruction, decimate, deep-troubled,
   defenseless, deject, dejected, demolish, depopulate, depredate,
   depress, depressed, desecrate, desert, deserted, desole, despoil,
   despondent, destitute, destroy, destroyed, devastate, devastated,
   devour, disconsolate, discourage, discouraged, dishearten, dismal,
   dismay, dispeople, dispirit, dispirited, dissolve, distressed,
   down, downcast, downhearted, drained, draw tears, drear, dreary,
   dried-up, dry, embitter, empty, engorge, excruciate, exhausted,
   fallow, fatherless, forlorn, forsaken, friendless, fruitless,
   funereal, gaunt, gelded, gloomy, gobble, gobble up, godforsaken,
   grieve, gut, gut with fire, havoc, heart-stricken, heart-struck,
   heartsick, heartsore, helpless, homeless, hopeless, impotent,
   incinerate, inconsolable, ineffectual, infecund, infertile,
   inundate, isolated, issueless, jejune, joyless, kithless,
   lay in ruins, lay waste, leached, lonely, low-spirited, melancholy,
   menopausal, miserable, motherless, mournful, murky, neglected,
   nonfertile, nonproducing, nonproductive, nonprolific, obliterate,
   oppress, outcast, overwhelm, pillage, poor, poverty-stricken,
   prostrate, ravage, ravaged, raze, remote, ruin, ruinate, ruined,
   sack, sad, sadden, shipwreck, sick, sick at heart, sine prole,
   solitary, somber, sorrow, sorrowful, soul-sick, spiritless,
   spoliate, sterile, stricken, sucked dry, suicidal, swallow up,
   teemless, throw into disorder, torment, torture, unconsolable,
   uncouth, uncultivated, unfertile, unfrequented, unfriended,
   unfruitful, unhappy, uninhabited, unleash destruction,
   unleash the hurricane, unoccupied, unpeople, unplowed,
   unproductive, unprolific, unsown, untilled, upheave, vacant,
   vandalize, vaporize, virgin, waste, wasted, without issue,
   woebegone, woeful, wrack, wreak havoc, wreck, wretched