Des`o*la"tion (?), n. [F. d'esolation, 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.
© Webster 1913.