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Somber vs Desolate - What's the difference?

somber | desolate |

As adjectives the difference between somber and desolate

is that somber is dark or dreary in character; joyless, and grim while desolate is deserted and devoid of inhabitants.

As verbs the difference between somber and desolate

is that somber is while desolate is to deprive of inhabitants.

somber

English

Alternative forms

* (Commonwealth English) sombre

Adjective

(er)
  • Dark or dreary in character; joyless, and grim.
  • * {{quote-book
  • , year=2002 , author=Dirk Wittenborn , title=Fierce People , passage=My mother prepared herself for the evening with the same somber deliberateness of the gladiators in Spartacus .}}
  • Dark, lacking color or brightness.
  • Synonyms

    * melancholy, unhappy, sad

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • References

    * *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    desolate

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Deserted and devoid of inhabitants.
  • a desolate''' isle; a '''desolate''' wilderness; a '''desolate house
  • * Bible, Jer. ix. 11
  • I will make Jerusalem a den of dragons, and I will make the cities of Judah desolate , without an inhabitant.
  • * Tennyson
  • And the silvery marish flowers that throng / The desolate creeks and pools among.
  • Barren and lifeless.
  • Made unfit for habitation or use; laid waste; neglected; destroyed.
  • desolate altars
  • Dismal or dreary.
  • Sad, forlorn and hopeless.
  • He was left desolate by the early death of his wife.
  • * Keble
  • voice of the poor and desolate

    Verb

    (desolat)
  • To deprive of inhabitants.
  • To devastate or lay waste somewhere.
  • To abandon or forsake something.
  • To make someone sad, forlorn and hopeless.