desolate

IPA/ˈdesələt/
KK[dˈɛsələt]IPA/ˈdesələt/

desolate — adjective

  • desolatepositive
  • more desolatecomparative
  • most desolatesuperlative

1. A place that is completely empty and feels sad or depressing because there are n

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

A place that is completely empty and feels sad or depressing because there are no buildings, people, or signs of life nearby.

Example

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

Common collocations
  • desolate landscape
  • desolate wasteland
  • desolate region
  • desolate area
  • desolate beach
  • desolate place
Synonyms
  • barren

    focuses on land that cannot support life; less about emptiness and more about lack of growth potential

  • bleak

    emphasises the cold, cheerless atmosphere rather than the absence of people

  • abandoned

    suggests that people deliberately left the place not long ago

Antonyms
  • lively

    full of activity and people

  • bustling

    busy and crowded with people moving around

Grammar Patterns

desolate + noun

be/look/seem + desolate

Usage Note

This sense only describes places (towns, landscapes, buildings), not people. For a person feeling sad, use sense 2.

Common Mistakes

After losing her job, Maria felt desolate about the empty office.
After losing her job, Maria looked around the desolate office and felt sad.
For a person's feeling of loneliness, use adjective sense 2, not sense 1.

2. Feeling extremely unhappy and completely alone, especially after losing someone

2.adjectiveB2
Definition

Feeling extremely unhappy and completely alone, especially after losing someone or something important.

Example

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.

Common collocations
  • feel desolate
  • look desolate
  • utterly desolate
  • completely desolate
Synonyms
  • 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

Antonyms
  • joyful

    feeling great happiness

  • comforted

    receiving emotional support from others

Grammar Patterns

feel + desolate

look/seem + desolate

be + desolate

Usage Note

Stronger than 'sad' — implies a deep, crushing loneliness often linked to grief or separation. Most common in literary or formal writing.

Common Mistakes

I felt desolate when I failed the test.
I felt disappointed when I failed the test.
'Desolate' is too strong for everyday disappointments; reserve it for profound loss or extreme loneliness.

desolate — verb

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/2

All four words describe sadness, but they differ in cause and intensity. 'Desolate' is the strongest — it describes the deep, crushing loneliness that follows a major loss, such as the death of a loved one. 'Forlorn' adds a sense of being pitiful and hopeless, often visible in a person's appearance: a forlorn figure standing alone in the rain. 'Bereft' specifically means having lost something essential: 'bereft of hope' means all hope is gone. 'Despondent' is more about losing confidence and giving up: failing several job interviews can leave someone despondent. 'Dejected' is the mildest of the group — a temporary low mood after a small disappointment, like being turned down for a date. Use 'desolate' for profound, lasting grief; use 'dejected' for passing sadness.

forlorn ↗bereft ↗despondent ↗dejected ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • left desolate
  • lay desolate
  • stood desolate

Etymology

LatinMiddle EnglishEnglish

From Latin 'dēsōlātus', meaning 'left alone, abandoned'. It is made up of 'dē-' (completely) and 'sōlus' (alone). The word entered Middle English in the 1300s, first describing places that had been emptied of people, and later came to describe the feeling of being emotionally alone.