godforsaken

adjective

god·​for·​sak·​en ˈgäd-fər-ˌsā-kən 

1

: remote, desolate

He said that he would never … go out there in those godforsaken canyons at night …

—Joseph Wambaugh

2

: neglected and miserable in appearance or circumstances

… a few eccentric real estate gamblers started buying old buildings in godforsaken downtowns.

—Kurt Anderson et al.

Synonyms of godforsaken

• bleak
• desolate
• lonely
• dark
• depressing
• depressive
• somber
• darkening
• solemn
• lonesome
• murky
• miserable
• cold
• gray
• wretched
• blue
• morbid

Examples of godforsaken in a Sentence

Who would want to visit such a godforsaken place?

grew up in the kind of godforsaken town in which everyone drank in order to forget that they were there

Recent Examples on the Web

The godforsaken, godawful, butt-of-every-joke Jets. —Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 28 Dec. 2025

Sachs is attuned to both the costs and the pleasures of living in the godforsaken place known as New York. —Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 7 Nov. 2025

The federal dollars were to build 61 wildlife crossings and install 68 miles of protective fencing in a godforsaken desert area beside U.S. Highway 93 in southern Nevada. —Noël Fletcher, Forbes.com, 28 Mar. 2025

Viewed from a distance through a telephoto lens, his demise in a godforsaken town, at the hands of Somoza’s troops, is random, scruffy, and dumb. —Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1778, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for godforsaken

• overtaken
• reawaken
• undertaken
• awaken
• betaken
• forsaken
• mistaken
• partaken
• retaken
• unshaken
• shaken
• taken

Kids Definition

godforsaken

adjective

god·​for·​sak·​en -fər-ˌsā-kən 

: remote entry 1 sense 1, desolate

the most godforsaken place in the world