desolate in WordNet English dictionary

1. leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch
   "The mother deserted her children"
   abandon  forsake  desolate  desert 
   
2. reduce in population
   "The epidemic depopulated the countryside"
   depopulate  desolate 
   
3. cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly
   "The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion"
   lay waste to  waste  devastate  desolate  ravage  scourge 
   

1. 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"
   bare  barren  bleak  desolate  stark 
   
2. crushed by grief
   "depressed and desolate of soul"; "a low desolate wail"
   desolate