| verb | leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch “The mother deserted her children” |
| verb | reduce in population “The epidemic depopulated the countryside” |
| verb | cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly “The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion” |
| adjective | providing no shelter or sustenance “bare rocky hills” |
| adjective | crushed by grief “depressed and desolate of soul” |
| abandonment | noun | withdrawing support or help despite allegiance or responsibility |
| forsaking | noun | the act of forsaking |
| desolation | noun | sadness resulting from being forsaken or abandoned |
| desertion | noun | withdrawing support or help despite allegiance or responsibility |
| deserter | noun | a disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause or religion or political party or friend etc. |
| depopulation | noun | the condition of having reduced numbers of inhabitants (or no inhabitants at all) |
| waster | noun | a person who destroys or ruins or lays waste to |
| devastation | noun | the state of being decayed or destroyed |
| ravage | noun | (usually plural) a destructive action |
| ravaging | noun | plundering with excessive damage and destruction |
| scourge | noun | something causing misery or death |
| bareness | noun | an extreme lack of furnishings or ornamentation |
| barren | noun | an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation |
| barrenness | noun | the quality of yielding nothing of value |
| bleakness | noun | a bleak and desolate atmosphere |
| starkness | noun | an extreme lack of furnishings or ornamentation |