—adj.
1 left alone; solitary.
2 (of a building or place) uninhabited, ruined, neglected, barren, dreary, empty (a desolate moor).
3 forlorn; wretched; miserable (was left desolate and weeping).
—v.tr.
1 depopulate or devastate; lay waste to.
2 (esp. as desolated adj.) make wretched or forlorn (desolated by grief; inconsolable and desolated).
Derivatives:
desolately adv. desolateness n. desolator n.
Etymology: ME f. L desolatus past part. of desolare (as DE-, solare f. solus alone)
Useful english dictionary. 2012.