moonscape
nounEtymology From moon + -scape.
1
A view of an area of the Moon.
2
Broadly A desolate or devastated landscape.
- In the Australian outback, industrial activity — notably open-pit coal mining — has turned verdant areas into moonscapes seemingly overnight, and the suicide rate in the region has skyrocketed.2007 December 20, Clive Thompson, “Clive Thompson on How the Next Victim of Climate Change Will Be Our Minds”, in Wired Magazine, number 16.01, archived from the original on 30 Jun 2013:
- Looking across the recently flattened, desolate moonscape of this former 52-acre Great Western depot and industrial area, south of Willesden Junction in west London, it's hard to imagine it will be home to the UK's largest, busiest and best-connected new railway station since Victorian times.2020 July 15, Marion Gourlay, “Old Oak Common: no ordinary station”, in Rail, page 48:
2 more examples
- They made their way to a geological formation called Kap Kobenhavn, a series of bare hills as desolate as a moonscape.2022 December 7, Carl Zimmer, “Oldest Known DNA Offers Glimpse of a Once-Lush Arctic”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- They had never managed to host many events on their property, in part because some of the surrounding area remained a moonscape. The cork oak where Phillip wanted his ashes spread had burned down in the last fire.2025 January 19, Eli Saslow, Erin Schaff, “They Built a Home to Fend Off California Wildfires. But Will They Stay?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN: