Verb

• S: (v) abandon, forsake, desolate, desert (leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch) "The mother deserted her children"
• S: (v) depopulate, desolate (reduce in population) "The epidemic depopulated the countryside"
• S: (v) lay waste to, waste, devastate, desolate, ravage, scourge (cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly) "The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion"

Adjective

• S: (adj) bare, barren, bleak, desolate, stark (providing no shelter or sustenance) "bare rocky hills"; "barren lands"; "the bleak treeless regions of the high Andes"; "the desolate surface of the moon"; "a stark landscape"
• similar to
• derivationally related form
• antonym
• S: (adj) desolate (crushed by grief) "depressed and desolate of soul"; "a low desolate wail"