adj. & v.
adj. 1 left alone; solitary. 2 (of a building or place) uninhabited, ruined, neglected, barren, dreary, empty (a desolate moor). 3 forlorn; wretched; miserable (was left desolate and weeping).
v.tr. 1 depopulate or devastate; lay waste to. 2 (esp. as desolated adj.) make wretched or forlorn (desolated by grief; inconsolable and desolated). desolately adv. desolateness n. desolator n.
[ ME f. L desolatus past part. of desolare (as DE-, solare f. solus alone) ]