dev·as·tate

(dĕv′ə-stāt′)

tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates

1. To lay waste; destroy.

2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark.

[Latin dēvāstāre, dēvāstāt- : dē-, de- + vāstāre, to lay waste (from vāstus, empty, desolate; see euə- in Indo-European roots).]

dev′as·tat′ing·ly adv.

dev′as·ta′tion n.

dev′as·ta′tor n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	devastation - the state of being decayed or destroyed desolation deterioration, impairment - a symptom of reduced quality or strength ruin, ruination - an irrecoverable state of devastation and destruction; "you have brought ruin on this entire family" blight - a state or condition being blighted
	2.	devastation - the feeling of being confounded or overwhelmed; "her departure left him in utter devastation" feeling - the experiencing of affective and emotional states; "she had a feeling of euphoria"; "he had terrible feelings of guilt"; "I disliked him and the feeling was mutual"
	3.	devastation - an event that results in total destruction desolation ruination, ruin - an event that results in destruction
	4.	devastation - plundering with excessive damage and destruction ravaging pillaging, plundering, pillage - the act of stealing valuable things from a place; "the plundering of the Parthenon"; "his plundering of the great authors"
	5.	devastation - the termination of something by causing so much damage to it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists destruction ending, termination, conclusion - the act of ending something; "the termination of the agreement" disaster - an act that has disastrous consequences kill - the destruction of an enemy plane or ship or tank or missile; "the pilot reported two kills during the mission" laying waste, ruining, wrecking, ruination, ruin - destruction achieved by causing something to be wrecked or ruined demolishing, tearing down, leveling, razing - complete destruction of a building annihilation, obliteration - destruction by annihilating something decimation - destroying or killing a large part of the population (literally every tenth person as chosen by lot) self-destruction - the act of destroying yourself; "his insistence was pure self-destruction" neutralisation, neutralization - (euphemism) the removal of a threat by killing or destroying it (especially in a covert operation or military operation) sabotage - a deliberate act of destruction or disruption in which equipment is damaged extermination, liquidation - the act of exterminating holocaust - an act of mass destruction and loss of life (especially in war or by fire); "a nuclear holocaust" demolition - the act of demolishing spoliation - (law) the intentional destruction of a document or an alteration of it that destroys its value as evidence hooliganism, malicious mischief, vandalism - willful wanton and malicious destruction of the property of others

devastation

noun

1. destruction, ruin, havoc, ravages, demolition, plunder, pillage, desolation, depredation, ruination, spoliation A huge bomb blast brought devastation to the centre of the city.

2. trauma, suffering, shock, pain, stress, upset, torture, distress, misery, anguish, upheaval, heartache, heartbreak the devastation which sexual abuse causes to the victim

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

devastation

noun

The act of destroying or state of being destroyed:

bane, destruction, havoc, ruin, ruination, undoing, wrack, wreck, wreckage.

Translations

dévastation

devastazione

devastação

devastation

[ˌdevəˈsteɪʃən] N

1. (= act) → devastación f

2. (= state) → devastación f, destrozos mpl

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

devastation

[ˌdɛvəˈsteɪʃ^ən] n → dévastation f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

devastation

n → Verwüstung f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

devastation

[ˌdɛvəˈsteɪʃ/ən] n → devastazione f

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Dejah Thoris, the Princess of Helium, who was our prisoner, is now held by the jeddak of Zodanga, whose son she must wed to save her country from devastation at the hands of the Zodangan forces.

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The people who were boisterous at Westminster upon the Friday morning, and were eagerly bent upon the work of devastation in Duke Street and Warwick Street at night, were, in the mass, the same.

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I was terrified at the devastation which had been accomplished in a brief half-hour; the black-currant trees were the apple of Joseph's eye, and she had just fixed her choice of a flower-bed in the midst of them.

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Within, the fire was yet smouldering on the hearth, and the chairs in a circle round it, as if the inhabitants had but gone forth to view the devastation of the Slide, and would shortly return, to thank Heaven for their miraculous escape.

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On arriving at their destination, they burn, slaughter, and destroy, according to the tenor of written instructions, and sailing away from the scene of devastation, call upon all Christendom to applaud their courage and their justice.

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were showered on the three young men with overwhelming force; and, from her well-stored arsenal issued glances, kindly recognitions, and a thousand other little charming attentions which were intended to strike at long range the gentlemen who formed the escort, the townspeople, the officers of the different cities she passed through, pages, populace, and servants; it was wholesale slaughter, a general devastation. By the time Madame arrived at Paris, she had reduced to slavery about a hundred thousand lovers: and brought in her train to Paris half a dozen men who were almost mad about her, and two who were, indeed, literally out of their minds.

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Basuli and his warriors had noted the devastation the moment they had come in sight of the farm.

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And as there had been no other cities along the river up to that point, the devastation was infinitely greater than time alone could have wrought.

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When the typhus fever had fulfilled its mission of devastation at Lowood, it gradually disappeared from thence; but not till its virulence and the number of its victims had drawn public attention on the school.

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Society suddenly finds itself put back into a state of momentary barbarism; it appears as if a famine, a universal war of devastation had cut off the supply of every means of subsistence; industry and commerce seem to be destroyed; and why?

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"Here all is harmony; the devastation seems organized," said the colonel, pulling the chain of a bell; but the bell was without a clapper.

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The ever-new passions which consumed her gave to her life the appearance of those clouds which float in the heavens, reflecting sometimes azure, sometimes fire, sometimes the opaque blackness of the tempest, and which leave no traces upon the earth behind them but devastation and death.

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