Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

devastating

[dev-uh-stey-ting]
See more synonyms for devastating on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. tending or threatening to devastate: a devastating fire.
  2. satirical, ironic, or caustic in an effective way: a devastating portrayal of society.
Show More

Origin of devastating

First recorded in 1625–35; devastate + -ing2
Related formsdev·as·tat·ing·ly, adverbun·dev·as·tat·ing, adjectiveun·dev·as·tat·ing·ly, adverb

devastate

[dev-uh-steyt]
verb (used with object), dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing.
  1. to lay waste; render desolate: The invaders devastated the city.
  2. to overwhelm.
Show More

Origin of devastate

1625–35; < Latin dēvastātus laid waste (past participle of dēvastāre), equivalent to dē- de- + vast(āre) to lay waste (akin to vastus empty) + -ātus -ate1
Related formsdev·as·ta·tive, adjectivedev·as·ta·tor, nounun·dev·as·tat·ed, adjective

Synonym study

1. See ravage.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

overwhelmingcalamitousdisastrousdestructivecrushingmortifyingbitingcausticincisive

Examples from the Web for devastating

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • If people seldom cry it has a devastating effect on their appearance when they do.

    Jan and Her Job

    L. Allen Harker

  • Israel was the evil one for whose sin they suffered this devastating plague.

    The Scapegoat

    Hall Caine

  • Remote as many of these jungles are, the plumage hunter is devastating them already.

    Conservation Reader

    Harold W. Fairbanks

  • Sometimes it was intermittent, and came down in devastating floods.

    Freaks on the Fells

    R.M. Ballantyne

  • The plague was not in Bombay then, but it is devastating the city now.

    Following the Equator, Complete

    Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

British Dictionary definitions for devastating

devastating

adjective
  1. extremely effective in a destructive waya devastating war; a devastating report on urban deprivation
Show More
Derived Formsdevastatingly, adverb

devastate

verb (tr)
  1. to lay waste or make desolate; ravage; destroy
  2. to confound or overwhelm, as with grief or shock
Show More
Derived Formsdevastation, noundevastative, adjectivedevastator, noun

Word Origin

C17: from Latin dēvastāre, from de- + vastāre to ravage; related to vastus waste, empty
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

Word Origin and History for devastating

adj.

1630s, present participle adjective from devastate. Trivial use by 1889.

Show More

devastate

v.

1630s, perhaps a back-formation from devastation. Apparently not common until 19c.; earlier verb form devast is attested from 1530s, from Middle French devaster. Related: devastated; devastating.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper