devastating
tending or threatening to devastate: a devastating fire.
satirical, ironic, or caustic in an effective way: a devastating portrayal of society.
Origin of devastating
1Other words from devastating
- dev·as·tat·ing·ly, adverb
- un·dev·as·tat·ing, adjective
- un·dev·as·tat·ing·ly, adverb
Words Nearby devastating
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use devastating in a sentence
As devastating as the fires have become, we’re still just at the early edge of climate change, says Diego Saez-Gil, chief executive of Pachama, a startup using AI and satellite data to help restore and protect forests.
Suppressing fires has failed. Here’s what California needs to do instead. | James Temple | September 17, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewJust a few weeks after Hurricane Laura—the strongest storm on record to make landfall in Louisiana—brought devastating storm surges and rainfall to the Gulf Coast, there are now five more named storms in the Atlantic.
A nearly unprecedented cluster of tropical storms are brewing in the Atlantic | Sara Chodosh | September 15, 2020 | Popular-ScienceLearning of safety issues after millions of healthy people have been vaccinated would be devastating to the nation’s health and public confidence.
6 questions that must be answered in the race for a vaccine | jakemeth | September 15, 2020 | FortuneMy sense was that of all the devastating consequences of a warming planet — changing landscapes, pandemics, mass extinctions — the potential movement of hundreds of millions of climate refugees across the planet stands to be among the most important.
Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration | by Abrahm Lustgarten, photography by Meridith Kohut | September 15, 2020 | ProPublicaEvery week, we lose far more of our fellow citizens than died 19 years ago in the most devastating terrorist strike in American history.
America Is About to Lose Its 200,000th Life to Coronavirus. How Many More Have to Die? | by Stephen Engelberg | September 14, 2020 | ProPublica
On the other hand, if you think about it, those basic industrial effects can be the most devastating.
The premise was simple: satire is devastating against tyrants.
The Sony Hack and America’s Craven Capitulation To Terror | David Keyes | December 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTGopal, a journalist who covered the war, gives a devastating account of how the conflict was astoundingly mishandled.
The event was a devastating one for Sierra Leone, deemed a “super-spreader” by The New York Times.
Jail Threats for Sierra Leone Ebola Victims’ Families | Abby Haglage | December 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThough devastating for the individual, this form is not that large a public health concern.
Bubonic Plague Is Back (but It Never Really Left) | Kent Sepkowitz | November 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThis may mean that up to May he had remained in command in the north, though keeping clear of Bruce's devastating track.
King Robert the Bruce | A. F. MurisonIt was chosen as the seat of Elizabeth's parliament when the plague was devastating London.
British Highways And Byways From A Motor Car | Thomas D. MurphyThe deadly coil has made possible the devastating spectacle in Europe, which we are helplessly looking on.
Third class in Indian railways | Mahatma GandhiIt was perhaps no greater power than many another woman possesses, but to me she was particularly devastating.
Valley of the Croen | Lee TarbellA still more devastating revelation of experience in child raising was yet to plague our confidence and complacency.
Seeing Things at Night | Heywood Broun
British Dictionary definitions for devastating
/ (ˈdɛvəˌsteɪtɪŋ) /
extremely effective in a destructive way: a devastating war; a devastating report on urban deprivation
Derived forms of devastating
- devastatingly, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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