desolate

Definitions


[ˈdɛs(ə)lət], (Adjective)

Definitions:
- (of a place) uninhabited and giving an impression of bleak emptiness
(e.g: a desolate Pennine moor)

- feeling or showing great unhappiness or loneliness
(e.g: I suddenly felt desolate and bereft)


Phrases:

Origin:
late Middle English: from Latin desolatus ‘abandoned’, past participle of desolare, from de- ‘thoroughly’ + solus ‘alone’


[ˈdɛsəleɪt], (Verb)

Definitions:
- make (a place) appear bleakly empty
(e.g: the droughts that desolated the dry plains)

- make (someone) feel utterly wretched and unhappy
(e.g: he was desolated by the deaths of his treasured friends)


Phrases:

Origin:
late Middle English: from Latin desolatus ‘abandoned’, past participle of desolare, from de- ‘thoroughly’ + solus ‘alone’




definition by Oxford Dictionaries