adjective

(of a place) uninhabited and giving an impression of bleak emptiness.

a desolate Pennine moor

barren,bleak,stark,bare,dismal,grim,desert,waste,arid,sterile,wild,windswept,inhospitable,exposed,deserted,uninhabited,unoccupied,depopulated,forsaken,godforsaken,abandoned,unpeopled,untenanted,evacuated,empty,vacated,vacant,unfrequented,unvisited,solitary,lonely,secluded,isolated,remote

verb

make (a place) appear bleakly empty.

the droughts that desolated the dry plains

devastate,ravage,ruin,make/leave desolate,leave in ruins,destroy,wreck,lay waste to,wreak havoc on,level,raze,demolish,wipe out,obliterate,annihilate,gut,depopulate,empty,depredate,spoliate