desolate
Definitions
Empty and bleak; abandoned and without people.
荒凉的；无人烟的
Feeling utterly miserable and forlorn.
孤苦的；凄凉绝望的
To lay waste to a place; to make someone wretched.
使荒芜；使凄凉
Root Breakdown
Root-derivedde- (completely) + sōlus (alone) + -ate = 'made utterly alone.' A place that has been completely abandoned by people is desolate — barren and bleak. The same image turns inward for feelings: a person abandoned by all comfort feels desolate, hollow with grief.
Root sol still carries 22 more wordsWhy It Means This
Desolate runs on one image: total abandonment. Strip a landscape of every living soul and it becomes a desolate moor. Strip a person of every comfort and they are desolate with grief. The word leaps from geography to emotion through the same feeling of being left completely alone, with nothing and no one.
Common Collocations
- 1.desolate landscape荒凉的景色
- 2.desolate place荒僻之地
- 3.feel desolate感到凄凉
- 4.desolate wasteland荒芜的不毛之地
Example Sentences
- 1.
They drove for hours across a desolate stretch of desert.
- 2.
The town felt desolate after the factory closed.
- 3.
She was desolate when her closest friend moved away.
Synonym Comparison
- desolate — bleak and abandoned, emotionally heavy: a desolate ruin
- barren — unable to produce life or crops: barren soil
- bleak — cold, gloomy, offering no comfort or hope: a bleak winter
- deserted — emptied of people, but possibly temporary: a deserted street at night
- forlorn — pitifully sad and abandoned, usually of people: a forlorn child