desolate
/ˈdesələt/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈdesələt/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈde-sə-lət ˈde-zə-/ (ame, mw)
desolate — adjective
- desolatepositive
- more desolatecomparative
- most desolatesuperlative
1. A place that is completely empty and feels sad or depressing because there are n
A place that is completely empty and feels sad or depressing because there are no buildings, people, or signs of life nearby.
After the factory closed, broken streetlights and boarded-up shops lined the town center's desolate main street.
collocation: desolate + place/town/wasteland
Drivers on the highway saw nothing but desolate fields for miles.
attributive use: desolate + fields/landscape/region
The old farmhouse stood alone in a desolate valley where no crops grew.
Andrei walked through the abandoned station past empty ticket booths and benches covered in thick dust.
After the mine shut down, the parking lot outside became a desolate stretch of cracked asphalt and rusted machinery.
文法句型
desolate + noun
be/look/seem + desolate
用法筆記
This sense only describes places (towns, landscapes, buildings), not people. For a person feeling sad, use sense 2.
常見錯誤
2. Feeling extremely unhappy and completely alone, especially after losing someone
Feeling extremely unhappy and completely alone, especially after losing someone or something important.
After his wife passed away, Mr. Okafor felt completely desolate.
feel + desolate describing an emotional state of grief
After his mother passed away, Ignacio felt utterly desolate in the quiet house they had once shared.
At the airport, Gita felt desolate waving goodbye to her parents for a whole year.
Yan spent a desolate winter alone in the city after his friends moved away.
Even surrounded by people, Ife sometimes felt utterly desolate and alone.
- forlorn
similar intensity but adds a sense of being pitiful or hopeless
- bereft
specifically implies having lost someone or something vital; slightly more formal
- grief-stricken
focuses on sorrow from bereavement rather than general loneliness
文法句型
feel + desolate
look/seem + desolate
be + desolate
用法筆記
Stronger than 'sad' — implies a deep, crushing loneliness often linked to grief or separation. Most common in literary or formal writing.
常見錯誤
desolate — verb
- desolatepresent simple I / you / we / they
- desolates3rd person singular
- desolating-ing form
- desolatedpast simple
1. To remove all or nearly all of the people who live in a place, leaving it empty.
To remove all or nearly all of the people who live in a place, leaving it empty.
The plague desolated the village, leaving only a handful of survivors.
active: [disaster] + desolated + [place]
War desolated the entire region, forcing families to flee their homes.
Repeated droughts desolated the farming communities that had lived on the plain for generations.
The cholera epidemic desolated the port city, driving residents to flee in all directions.
- depopulate
more neutral and factual; less emotional than 'desolate'
- empty
simpler and more general; lacks the sense of tragedy or force
- populate
to fill a place with inhabitants
文法句型
be desolated by [cause]
[cause] + desolate + [place]
用法筆記
Usually passive: 'a region desolated by disease / war / famine.' Very rare in everyday conversation; 'depopulated' is more common.
2. To completely destroy a place, making it impossible for anything to grow or for
To completely destroy a place, making it impossible for anything to grow or for people to live there.
The earthquake desolated the coastal town within a few minutes.
active: [natural disaster] + desolated + [place]
Centuries of mining desolated the mountain, leaving deep scars on its slopes.
The invading troops desolated the countryside, burning every farm they found.
A wildfire desolated the national park, reducing decades of forest growth to ash.
文法句型
be desolated by [event]
[event] + desolate + [place]
用法筆記
Overlaps partly with verb sense 1: sense 1 focuses on removing people, while sense 2 focuses on physical destruction of the place itself.
3. To leave someone who depends on you and needs your help, especially in a difficu
To leave someone who depends on you and needs your help, especially in a difficult situation.
Eitan could not believe his closest friend had desolated him in his time of need.
active: [person] + desolated + [person] expressing betrayal
Her children desolated her by moving away and never staying in touch.
Wren desolated her family when she left home without a word.
Dr. Chen's husband desolated her when he left without any explanation.
文法句型
[person] + desolate + [person]
用法筆記
Very rare in modern English — 'abandon' or 'desert' are far more common. This sense is mainly encountered in older or literary texts.