Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
Menu
dictionary thesaurus

Thesaurus

desolate

adjective

Synonyms and Antonyms of desolate

1 causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer

  • a desolate house abandoned many years ago
Synonyms of desolate

black, bleak, cheerless, chill, Cimmerian, cloudy, cold, comfortless, dark, darkening, depressing, depressive, dire, disconsolate, dismal, drear, dreary, dreich [chiefly Scottish], elegiac (also elegiacal), forlorn, funereal, gloomy, glum, godforsaken, gray (also grey), lonely, lonesome, lugubrious, miserable, morbid, morose, murky, plutonian, saturnine, sepulchral, solemn, somber (or sombre), sullen, sunless, tenebrific, tenebrous, wretched
Words Related to desolate

blue, dejected, depressed, despondent, disconsolate, down, droopy, hangdog, inconsolable, low, melancholic, melancholy, mirthless, sad, unhappy, woebegone, woeful

dim, discomfiting, discouraging, disheartening, dismaying, dispiriting, distressful, distressing, upsetting

desperate, hopeless, pessimistic

lamentable, mournful, plaintive, sorrowful

colorless, drab, dull

dour, grim, lowering (also louring), lowery (also loury), menacing, negative, oppressive, threatening
Near Antonyms of desolate

blithe, blithesome, buoyant, gay, jocund, jolly, joyful, joyous, merry, mirthful

encouraging, hopeful, optimistic

lighthearted, lightsome
Antonyms of desolate

bright, cheerful, cheering, cheery, comforting, cordial, festive, friendly, gay, heartwarming, sunshiny

2 sad from lack of companionship or separation from others

  • he was less desolate after adopting a rescue dog
Synonyms of desolate

forlorn, lonely, lonesome, lorn
Words Related to desolate

friendless

abandoned, deserted, forgotten, forsaken, neglected, rejected

alone, lone, solitary, solo, unaccompanied

only, sole
Near Antonyms of desolate

accompanied, attended, escorted

3 left unoccupied or unused

  • a desolate mining town that had its brief heyday more than a century ago
Synonyms of desolate

abandoned, derelict, deserted, disused, forgotten, forsaken, rejected, vacant, vacated, void
Words Related to desolate

ignored, neglected, unattended, untended

castaway, cast-off, discarded, jettisoned, junked, refuse, waste

godforsaken, miserable, shabby, wretched

empty, idle
Near Antonyms of desolate

reclaimed, recovered, redeemed, rescued, retrieved, salvaged, saved

reconditioned, rehabbed, rehabilitated, restored

repeopled

4 producing inferior or only a small amount of vegetation

  • wild, desolate plains on which only the hardiest could survive
Synonyms of desolate

barren, bony (also boney), dead, hardscrabble, impoverished, infertile, poor, stark, unfertile, unproductive, waste
Words Related to desolate

bleak, inhospitable, lifeless

uncultivable, untillable

bankrupted, consumed, debilitated, depleted, diminished, drained, dried-up, enfeebled, exhausted, expended, lessened, reduced, spent, used up

arid, desert, droughty, dry, rainless, sere (also sear), thirsty, waterless

baked, dehydrated, parched, sunbaked
Near Antonyms of desolate

arable, tillable

green, sylvan, verdant
Antonyms of desolate

fertile, fruitful, lush, luxuriant, productive, rich

Synonym Discussion of desolate

alone, solitary, lonely, lonesome, lone, forlorn, desolate mean isolated from others. alone stresses the objective fact of being by oneself with slighter notion of emotional involvement than most of the remaining terms.
    • everyone needs to be alone sometimes
solitary may indicate isolation as a chosen course
    • glorying in the calm of her solitary life
but more often it suggests sadness and a sense of loss.
    • left solitary by the death of his wife
lonely adds to solitary a suggestion of longing for companionship.
    • felt lonely and forsaken
lonesome heightens the suggestion of sadness and poignancy.
    • an only child often leads a lonesome life
lone may replace lonely or lonesome but typically is as objective as alone.
    • a lone robin pecking at the lawn
forlorn stresses dejection, woe, and listlessness at separation from one held dear.
    • a forlorn lost child
desolate implies inconsolable grief at loss or bereavement.
    • desolate after her brother's death

desolate

verb

Synonyms and Antonyms of desolate

to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of

  • totally desolated the city with aerial bombs
Synonyms of desolate

annihilate, cream, decimate, demolish, destroy, devastate, do in, extinguish, nuke, pull down, pulverize, raze, rub out, ruin, shatter, smash, tear down, total, vaporize, waste, wrack, wreck
Words Related to desolate

beat, best, clobber, conquer, crush, defeat, drub, lick, master, overbear, overcome, overmatch, prevail (over), rout, scotch, skunk, subdue, surmount, thrash, trim, triumph (over), trounce, wallop, whip, win (against)

blast, blow up, break, cripple, damage, deface, deteriorate, disfigure, disintegrate, dissolve, dynamite, harm, impair, injure, mangle, mar, mutilate, spoil, vitiate

erode, scour, sweep (away), wash out, wear (away)

dilapidate, disassemble, dismantle, gut, take down, unbuild, undo, unmake

blot out, efface, eradicate, expunge, exterminate, extirpate, liquidate, obliterate, remove, root (out), snuff (out), stamp (out), wipe out

despoil, havoc, loot, pillage, plunder, ravage, sack, trample, trash, vandalize

assassinate, butcher, cut down, dispatch, execute, fell, kill, kill off, massacre, mow (down), murder, slaughter, slay, take out, zap
Near Antonyms of desolate

doctor, fix, mend, patch, recondition, repair, revamp

create, invent

assemble, fabricate, fashion, forge, form, frame, make, manufacture, mold, produce, shape

bring about, constitute, establish, father, found, institute, organize

conserve, preserve, protect, save

rebuild, reconstruct, remodel, renovate, restore
Antonyms of desolate

build, construct, erect, put up, raise, rear, set up

Learn More about desolate

  1. See words that rhyme with desolate Dictionary: Definition of desolate Spanish Central: Translation of desolate Nglish: Translation of desolate for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of desolate for Arabic speakers

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up desolate? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show comments hide comments

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Words at Play

Ask the Editors

Word Games