desolation

Borrowed from Old French desolacion f, from Latin dēsōlātiō f.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌdɛsəˈleɪʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

desolation (countable and uncountable, plural desolations)

1. The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation.
2. The state of being desolated or laid waste

   Synonyms: ruin, solitariness, destitution, gloom, gloominess

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 1:26–27:

     I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

   • 1823, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Forget Me Not 1824, The Indian Orphan, page 68:

     One or two uncovered masses appeared like the lingering foot-prints of desolation; but in general where the statelier trees had not taken root, the soil was luxuriantly covered with heath and the golden blossomed furze.

3. A place or country wasted and forsaken.

Derived from Old French desolacion f, from Latin dēsōlātiō f or learned borrowing directly from the Latin term.

desolation f (plural desolations)

1. desolation; destruction; annihilation.

• French: désolation f