Desolation is a state of complete emptiness, loneliness, or devastation. When a place shows desolation, it looks barren and abandoned, like a ghost town where weeds grow through cracked sidewalks and no one has lived for years. A landscape of desolation might be a desert stretching endlessly in all directions, or a forest after a wildfire has left nothing but blackened stumps.

The word also describes an emotional state: a feeling of utter loneliness or hopelessness. Someone might feel desolation after losing someone they love, or when facing a situation that seems impossibly difficult. It's more intense than simple sadness. Desolation is that hollow, empty feeling when you think nothing will ever feel right again.

The related word desolate works as an adjective: a desolate landscape, a desolate feeling. You might read about explorers crossing desolate tundra, or a character in a story feeling desolate after a terrible loss. The word captures both the outer emptiness of a ruined place and the inner emptiness of profound loneliness, reminding us that places and hearts can both feel achingly empty.