Desolation \Des`o*la"tion\, n. [F. d['e]solation, L. desolatio.]

1. The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation.

Unto the end of the war desolations are determined. --Dan. ix. 26.

2. 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. --Shak.

3. A place or country wasted and forsaken.

How is Babylon become a desolation! --Jer. l. 23.

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

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)