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
- devastatingly adverb
- undevastating adjective
- undevastatingly adverb
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.
But those scenes proved premature when, in the fifth minute of eight added for stoppage time, Brighton's Georginio Rutter delivered a devastating sucker-punch.
From BBC • Apr. 18, 2026
My skin never got the memo that it had survived a devastating attack.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
"On a good day it's frustrating, on a bad day it's devastating, I could cry", she said.
From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026
County residents have faced several disasters and crises — destabilizing immigration raids and devastating wildfires — on top of some of the world’s highest housing costs.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2026
It must have been devastating for him to find this out, this petaled monster, his trainer, the man he trusted so much, so completely, with his very flesh.
From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi
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.
