different between misery vs desolation

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French miserie (modern: misère), from Latin miseria, from miser. Doublet of misère.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?z(?)??/
• (General American) enPR: m?z??-r?, m?z?r?, IPA^(key): /?m?z(?)?i/
• Hyphenation: mis?ery

Noun

misery (countable and uncountable, plural miseries)

1. Great unhappiness; extreme pain of body or mind; wretchedness; distress; woe.
2. (US and Britain, dialects) A bodily ache or pain.
   • 1868, John Vestal Hadley, Seven Months a Prisoner, page 15:

     [...] and I had a misery in my left breast and shoulder. I was hurt, but knew not how or how much.

3. Cause of misery; calamity; misfortune.
4. (Extreme) poverty.
5. (archaic) greed; avarice.

Synonyms

• see Thesaurus:greed

Derived terms

• put out of one's misery

Related terms

• commiserate
• miser
• miserable

Translations

Anagrams

• Myries

English

Etymology

From Old French desolacion, from Latin d?s?l?ti?.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?d?s??le???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

desolation (countable and uncountable, plural desolations)

1. The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation.
2. The state of being desolated or laid waste

   Synonyms: ruin, solitariness, destitution, gloom, gloominess

   • I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

3. A place or country wasted and forsaken.

Translations

Middle French

Etymology

Latin d?s?l?ti?.

Noun

desolation f (plural desolations)

1. desolation; destruction; annihilation.