Agency Dictionary
Desolation
nounPronunciation: /ˌdɛs.əˈleɪ.ʃən/
In Portuguese: Desolação
Psychology & MindWhat does “Desolation” mean?
A state of complete emptiness, loneliness, or destruction; deep sorrow caused by abandonment or acute loss.
Etymology
From Old French desolacion and Late Latin desolatio, a noun of action from desolare, "to leave alone, to abandon", formed from de- (here an intensive, "completely") and solare ("to make lonely"), from solus ("alone"). The word is found in English from the late 14th century, first for grief and personal affliction and soon after for the laying waste of a place and the emptying of its people.
Usage note
A formal and literary word with two faces: the state of a place laid waste and the feeling of a person left alone. The adjective desolate is stressed on the first syllable; the verb to desolate is rare today.
Synonyms
- devastation
- bleakness
- grief
- despair
- loneliness
- anguish
Word family
- desolate
- desolately
- desolateness
Rhymes with
- nation
- station
- creation
- foundation
- relation
- vacation
- location
- temptation
Usage examples
As a consequence, it generates an abstract pain more similar to desolation or isolation.
Concept
Source editions
Where this entry comes from in the Agency editorial.
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