desolation

1 a state or spell of low spirits his desolation after his twin brother died was incurable Synonyms blue devils, blues, dejection, depression, sadness, despond, despondence, despondency, disconsolateness, dispiritedness, doldrums, dolefulness, downheartedness, dreariness, dumps, forlornness, gloom, gloominess, glumness, heartsickness, joylessness, melancholy, miserableness, mopes, mournfulness, oppression, sorrowfulness, unhappinessRelated 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, rueNear 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, gratificationAntonyms 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, wasteland, heath, no-man's-land, wasteRelated 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 neglect, dilapidation, disrepair, seedinessRelated Words inattention, negligence; abandonment, desertion; decay, decrepitude, dereliction, deterioration, disintegration, dumpiness, ruin, ruinationNear Antonyms conservation, preservation, upkeepAntonyms 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, destruction, devastation, extermination, extinction, havoc, loss, mincemeat, obliteration, ruin, ruination, wastage, wreckageRelated Words depredation, despoilment, despoliation; breakup, collapse, disintegration, dissolution; assassination, execution, killing, massacre, slaughter; dismantlement, effacement, eradicationNear Antonyms rescue, salvage, salvation, saving; conservation, preservation, protection; reclamation, reconstruction, re-creation, refurbishment, regeneracy, remodeling, renovation, restorationAntonyms building, construction, erection, raising