desolate \DES-uh-leyt\, verb:
1. To lay waste; devastate.
2. To deprive of inhabitants; depopulate.
3. To make disconsolate.
4. To forsake or abandon.
adjective:
1. Barren or laid waste; devastated: a treeless, desolate landscape.
2. Deprived or destitute of inhabitants; deserted; uninhabited.
3. Solitary; lonely: a desolate place.
So she hastened to Sing Chando and prayed him not to desolate the earth...
-- Rev. P. O. Bodding, Folklore of the "Santal Parganas"
Could he bring himself to desolate her by a refusal?
-- Arnold Bennett, "Clayhanger"
Dictionary.com Word of the Day
