1
as in bleak
causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer
a desolate house abandoned many years ago
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in lonely
sad from lack of companionship or separation from others
he was less desolate after adopting a rescue dog
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3
as in deserted
left unoccupied or unused
a desolate mining town that had its brief heyday more than a century ago
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4
as in barren
producing inferior or only a small amount of vegetation
wild, desolate plains on which only the hardiest could survive
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as in to ruin
to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of
totally desolated the city with aerial bombs
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of desolate
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, 2 Feb. 2025
Chaotic warrens in rundown backwaters, such as the desolate apartment complex where Beibei’s grandmother used to live, suggest neglect that’s far from benign.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 29 Jan. 2025
To the south are the historic Hotel Gary, transformed into housing for older people, and City Methodist Church, now a desolate Gothic-style ruin.
—Patricia Leigh Brown, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 Jan. 2025
Unlike the desolate landscape, which de Fontenay (perhaps mistakenly) makes very pretty, that setup is fertile land for drama.
—Adam Solomons, IndieWire, 25 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for desolate
Adjective
Behind her, a bus collects locals who still shuffle in and out of the desolate town to go shopping.
—Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, 2 Feb. 2025
Chaotic warrens in rundown backwaters, such as the desolate apartment complex where Beibei’s grandmother used to live, suggest neglect that’s far from benign.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 29 Jan. 2025
To the south are the historic Hotel Gary, transformed into housing for older people, and City Methodist Church, now a desolate Gothic-style ruin.
—Patricia Leigh Brown, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 Jan. 2025
Unlike the desolate landscape, which de Fontenay (perhaps mistakenly) makes very pretty, that setup is fertile land for drama.
—Adam Solomons, IndieWire, 25 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for desolate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for desolate
Adjective
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The picture looks bleak in the U.S. and in France the company is entering receivership.—
Andreas Wiseman,
Deadline,
24 Feb. 2025
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The tiny graves at one end of the orphanage compound are a bleak reminder of what a future without USAID might look like for the children.—
Nicholas Komu,
Los Angeles Times,
21 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Bill’s smarm has calcified into a kind of mad obsession; Hal is a starkly lonely and cowardly man.—
Angelica Jade Bastién,
Vulture,
22 Feb. 2025
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New research suggests people tend to be lonelier in young adulthood and late life.—
Christina Caron,
New York Times,
20 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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In her first Cowboy Carter teaser during the 2024 Super Bowl, Bey is seen driving a taxi through a barren landscape.—
Rania Aniftos,
Billboard,
19 Feb. 2025
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Is there something about the needy Anja and her ragged child that the barren Isabell responds to?—
Alissa Simon,
Variety,
16 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Sometimes, one bad person or a few bad people can ruin things for everybody.—
David Faris,
Newsweek,
27 Feb. 2025
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However, for some, gambling is an addiction that can ruin lives and families.—
Don Sweeney,
Kansas City Star,
26 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Master of maturation Andrea Wilson adds her own tasting notes, describing baking spice, dark fruit, toffee, fragrant citrus, and floral notes on the palate, followed by a round, complex finish.—
Jonah Flicker,
Robb Report,
27 Feb. 2025
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An open-wide view is way more important than a dark sky.—
Jamie Carter,
Forbes,
27 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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One of the most powerful scenes in Sugarcane takes place in a disused barn where, over a period of decades, Indigenous children worked under the lash.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
8 Feb. 2025
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McQueen spends half an hour dispassionately showing us the grimness of HMP Maze, a Troubles-era warehouse for enemies of the British state on a disused airfield.—
IndieWire Staff,
IndieWire,
12 Aug. 2024
Adjective
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Three generations of the Kim family have created a politically repressed and economically impoverished state that is nonetheless a pivotal actor on the global stage.—
Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Affairs,
25 Feb. 2025
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Now with all these things vanished, along with the bookstores and repertory cinemas, the city seems impoverished and disfigured.—
Adam Gopnik,
The New Yorker,
24 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Baldoni countersued, accusing Lively, Reynolds and Sloane of seeking to destroy his career.—
Gene Maddaus,
Variety,
20 Feb. 2025
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Many other belongings from his tomb are believed to have been relocated due to the flooding that destroyed it.—
Francesca Aton for ArtNews,
Robb Report,
20 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Desolate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desolate. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.
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