DESOLATION • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Desolation

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/dˌɛsəlˈeɪʃən/ Listen

noun

Desolation n.

The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation. "Unto the end of the war desolations are determined."

The state of being desolated or laid waste; ruin; solitariness; destitution; gloominess. "You would have sold your king to slaughter,... And his whole kingdom into desolation."

A place or country wasted and forsaken. "How is Babylon become a desolation!"

Synonyms: Waste; ruin; destruction; havoc; devastation; ravage; sadness; destitution; melancholy; gloom; gloominess.

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Etymology of 'Desolation'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Desolation" Quotes from Famous Books

... that Robert Willoughby did not feel the desolation, which so suddenly alighted on a family that had often been quoted for its mutual affection and happiness, would be to do him great injustice. He even staggered under the blow; yet his heart craved further information. The Indian was gazing intently on the sight ...

— Wyandotte • James Fenimore Cooper

... the commandant of the fortress had terrible tales to tell of Ulugh Ali's raid on the island, and the horrors that the Turks had perpetrated in the villages, which now presented a scene of ruin and desolation. Gil d'Andrada rejoined the fleet there. He had not seen the Turkish armament, but he had obtained news of it from coasters and fishermen. He estimated from these reports that it was inferior in numbers to the Christian ...

— Famous Sea Fights - From Salamis to Tsu-Shima • John Richard Hale

... sorrow, in which I saw little of the calculating spirit of a mere fisherman. Though he looked on the coming tide, his eyes seemed to dwell particularly on the black and decayed hulls of two vessels, which, half immersed in the quicksand, still addressed to every heart a tale of shipwreck and desolation. The tide wheeled and foamed around them, and, creeping inch by inch up the side, at last fairly threw its waters over the top, and a long and hollow eddy showed the resistance ...

— Folk-Lore and Legends - Scotland • Anonymous

... Olympian god has assign'd to me this tribulation— Loss of a son without peer? But yourselves shall partake my affliction; Easier far will it be for the pitiless sword of the Argives, Now he is dead, to make havoc of you. For myself, ere I witness Ilion storm'd in their wrath, and the fulness of her desolation, Oh, may the Destiny yield me to ...

— Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 365, March, 1846 • Various

... and raining blow on blow. Martin's gang surged forward to interfere. Dazed by the rapid succession of blows, Martin warned them back with vile and earnest curses sobbed out and groaned in ultimate desolation and despair. ...

— Martin Eden • Jack London

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