- present participle of devastate.
devastating
Americanadjective
-
tending or threatening to devastate.
a devastating fire.
-
satirical, ironic, or caustic in an effective way.
a devastating portrayal of society.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of devastating
First recorded in 1625–35; devastat(e) + -ing 2
Explanation
Something that's shocking and distressing is devastating. Watching the local ice cream shop burn to the ground would be devastating to many neighborhood kids. Incredibly destructive events like earthquakes are devastating, although anything that's tragic, even on a personal level, can also be devastating. It's also used informally to mean incredibly affecting or impressive, like a photographer's devastating images of urban poverty. This meaning came into use in the late 1800s — before that, devastating came right from the Latin word devastare, "to lay waste completely."
Vocabulary lists containing devastating
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Hatchet
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Six years after the devastating Camp fire in 2018, regulated carriers continued to leave Paradise even as the community rebuilt, state data show.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
A mechanism that allows healthy tissue to recover from devastating damage could potentially be harnessed to improve healing.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
The flooding comes less than two years after devastating flooding in Valencia killed more than 230 people.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, speaking near the crash site Tuesday evening, described the events as a devastating loss for the city.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
On March 1, 1926, White and the prosecution received a devastating setback.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
