desolation

desolation

noun

Definition of DESOLATION

1

a state or spell of low spirits <his desolation after his twin brother died was incurable>

Synonyms blue devils, blues, dejection, depression, desolation, despond, despondence, despondency, disconsolateness, dispiritedness, doldrums, dolefulness, downheartedness, dreariness, dumps, forlornness, gloom, gloominess, glumness, heartsickness, joylessness, melancholy, miserableness, mopes, mournfulness, oppression, sorrowfulness, unhappiness

Related Words melancholia, self-pity; anguish, dolor, grief, mourning, somberness, sorrow, woefulness; agony, distress, pain; misery, woe, wretchedness; discouragement, disheartenment; moodiness; despair, desperation, hopelessness, self-despair; boredom, ennui, tedium; dismalness, drear, morbidness, moroseness, morosity; regret, rue

Near Antonyms gaiety (also gayety), gayness, glee, gleefulness, humor, jollity, joviality, lightheartedness, merriment, mirth, mirthfulness; cheer, cheerfulness, cheeriness, hopefulness, optimism, sunniness; content, contentedness, contentment, satisfaction; delight, gratification

Antonyms bliss, blissfulness, ecstasy, elatedness, elation, euphoria, exhilaration, exuberance, exultation, felicity, gladness, gladsomeness, happiness, heaven, intoxication, joy, joyfulness, joyousness, jubilation, rapture, rapturousness

2

land that is uninhabited or not fit for crops <looked out over the vast untamed desolation to the north>

Synonyms barren, desert, desolation, heath, no-man's-land, waste

Related Words badland; brush, bush; dust bowl; open, open air, outdoors, out-of-doors; nature, wild, wilderness

3

the state of being unattended to or not cared for <the desolation of the abandoned garden>

Synonyms desolation, dilapidation, disrepair, seediness

Related Words inattention, negligence; abandonment, desertion; decay, decrepitude, dereliction, deterioration, disintegration, dumpiness, ruin, ruination

Near Antonyms conservation, preservation, upkeep

Antonyms keeping, repair

4

the state or fact of being rendered nonexistent, physically unsound, or useless <the nuclear attack resulted in a scene of utter desolation>

Synonyms annihilation, decimation, demolishment, demolition, desolation, devastation, extermination, extinction, havoc, loss, mincemeat, obliteration, ruin, ruination, wastage, wreckage

Related Words depredation, despoilment, despoliation; breakup, collapse, disintegration, dissolution; assassination, execution, killing, massacre, slaughter; dismantlement, effacement, eradication

Near Antonyms rescue, salvage, salvation, saving; conservation, preservation, protection; reclamation, reconstruction, re-creation, refurbishment, regeneracy, remodeling, renovation, restoration

Antonyms building, construction, erection, raising