desolate
/ˈdesələt/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈdesələt/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈde-sə-lət ˈde-zə-/ (ame, mw)
desolate — 形容詞
- desolatepositive
- more desolatecomparative
- most desolatesuperlative
1. A place that is completely empty and feels sad or depressing because there are n
荒涼；荒蕪
形容地方空曠、無生氣且令人感到悲傷
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.
工廠關閉後，鎮中心的主要街道兩旁盡是壞掉的路燈和釘上木板的商店，一片荒涼。
collocation: desolate + place/town/wasteland
Drivers on the highway saw nothing but desolate fields for miles.
開車在高速公路上好幾英里，窗外盡是荒蕪的田野。
attributive use: desolate + fields/landscape/region
The old farmhouse stood alone in a desolate valley where no crops grew.
那間老農舍孤零零地矗立在荒涼的山谷中，那裡什麼作物都不長。
Andrei walked through the abandoned station past empty ticket booths and benches covered in thick dust.
Andrei 走過廢棄的火車站，經過空無一人的售票亭和蒙上厚厚灰塵的長椅。
After the mine shut down, the parking lot outside became a desolate stretch of cracked asphalt and rusted machinery.
礦場關閉後，外面的停車場變成一片荒涼的景象，滿地都是龜裂的柏油和生鏽的機器。
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
孤寂的
形容極度悲傷且孤獨的感受
Feeling extremely unhappy and completely alone, especially after losing someone or something important.
After his wife passed away, Mr. Okafor felt completely desolate.
妻子過世後，Okafor 先生感到完全孤寂。
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.
母親過世後，Ignacio 在他們曾共同生活的寧靜屋子裡感到徹底孤寂。
At the airport, Gita felt desolate waving goodbye to her parents for a whole year.
在機場，Gita 向父母揮手道別，她知道接下來一整年都見不到他們，感到無比孤寂。
Yan spent a desolate winter alone in the city after his friends moved away.
朋友搬走後，Yan 獨自一人在城裡度過了一個孤寂的冬天。
Even surrounded by people, Ife sometimes felt utterly desolate and alone.
即使身邊圍繞著許多人，Ife 有時仍感到極度孤寂。
- 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 — 動詞
- 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.
使荒無人煙
使某地居民消失、變得空蕩
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.
瘟疫使那座村莊荒無人煙，只剩少數倖存者。
active: [disaster] + desolated + [place]
War desolated the entire region, forcing families to flee their homes.
戰爭使整個地區荒無人煙，迫使許多家庭逃離家園。
Repeated droughts desolated the farming communities that had lived on the plain for generations.
連年乾旱使那些世代居住在平原上的農業社群變得荒無人煙。
The cholera epidemic desolated the port city, driving residents to flee in all directions.
霍亂疫情使那座港口城市變得荒無人煙，居民紛紛向四面八方逃亡。
- 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
摧毀
徹底破壞某地使其無法居住
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.
地震在短短幾分鐘內摧毀了那座沿海小鎮。
active: [natural disaster] + desolated + [place]
Centuries of mining desolated the mountain, leaving deep scars on its slopes.
數百年的採礦活動摧毀了那座山，在山坡上留下了深深的疤痕。
The invading troops desolated the countryside, burning every farm they found.
入侵的軍隊摧毀了鄉間，沿途燃燒他們經過的每一座農場。
A wildfire desolated the national park, reducing decades of forest growth to ash.
一場野火摧毀了那座國家公園，將數十年的林木化為灰燼。
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
遺棄
拋棄需要依靠的人
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.
Eitan 不敢相信他最要好的朋友在他需要幫助的時候遺棄了他。
active: [person] + desolated + [person] expressing betrayal
Her children desolated her by moving away and never staying in touch.
她的孩子們搬走後再也沒有聯絡，就這樣遺棄了她。
Wren desolated her family when she left home without a word.
Wren 一句話也沒說就離家出走，遺棄了她的家人。
Dr. Chen's husband desolated her when he left without any explanation.
陳醫生的丈夫什麼也沒解釋就離開了，就這樣遺棄了她。
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.