desolate

(verb) leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch. Synonyms: abandon, forsake, desert. Example: "The mother deserted her children."

(verb) reduce in population. Synonyms: depopulate. Example: "The epidemic depopulated the countryside."

(verb) cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly. Synonyms: lay waste to, waste, devastate, ravage, scourge. Example: "The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion."

(adj) providing no shelter or sustenance. Synonyms: bare, barren, bleak, stark. Examples: "Bare rocky hills." "Barren lands." "The bleak treeless regions of the high andes." "The desolate surface of the moon." "A stark landscape."

(adj) crushed by grief. Examples: "Depressed and desolate of soul." "A low desolate wail."