Dictionary

devastate en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈdɛv.ə.steɪt/ (Canada, UK, US)
• /ˈdev.ə.stæɪt/ (Australia)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dēvastātus, perfect passive participle of dēvastō (“to lay waste, devastate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)); from dē- (augmentative prefix) + vastō (“to destroy, lay waste”). See vast. First attested in 1638.

Meanings

1. To ruin many or all things over a large area, such as most or all buildings of a city, or cities of a region, or trees of a forest.
   • Halifax in Canada was devastated by a ship exploding in 1917. SS Mont Blanc, a French vessel loaded with 2.9 kilotons of explosives, collided with the Imo. 2022 August 24, Bruce Healey, “Wartime tunnel crash: a miraculous escape”, in RAIL, number 964, page 53:
2. To destroy a whole collection of related ideas, beliefs, and strongly held opinions.
3. To break beyond recovery or repair so that the only options are abandonment or the clearing away of useless remains (if any) and starting over.
4. To greatly demoralize, to cause to suffer intense grief or dismay

Forms

Deriveds

devastative · devastating · devastated

Relateds

devastation · devastavit

Synonyms

ruin · raze · decimate (to lay waste) · destroy

Translations (38)

cmn 摧毀 /摧毁 (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · fr dévaster (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · gl devastar (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · ca devastar (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · la dēvastō (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · grc ἐρημόω (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · ru опустоши́ть (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · cmn 破壞 /破坏 (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · ru разори́ть (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · ru разоря́ть (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · bg опустошавам (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · da ødelægge (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · uk спусто́шувати (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · it devastare (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · fi tuhota (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · es devastar (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · hu elpusztít (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · fi mullistaa (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · de verheeren (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · la vastō (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · pt devastar (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · la populor (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · ga slad (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · ja 破壊する (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · grc λυμαίνομαι (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · nb ødelegge (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · ro devasta (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · pl zdewastować (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · pl dewastować (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · sv ödelägga (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · de verwüsten (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · az viran etmək (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · ru опустоша́ть (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · uk пусто́шити (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · cmn 蹂躪 /蹂躏 (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · fi hävittää (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · fi tehdä tuhoa (suurta) (to ruin many or all things over a large area) · uk спусто́шити (to ruin many or all things over a large area)