Devastate Definition

dĕvə-stāt

devastated, devastates, devastating

verb

devastated, devastates, devastating

To lay waste; make desolate; ravage; destroy.

Webster's New World

To make helpless; overwhelm.

The teacher's criticism devastated him.

Webster's New World

To ruin many or all things over a large area, such as most or all buildings of a city, or cities of a region, or trees of a forest.

Wiktionary

To destroy a whole collection of related ideas, beliefs, and strongly held opinions.

Wiktionary

To break beyond recovery or repair so that the only options are abandonment or the clearing away of useless remains (if any) and starting over.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

Origin of Devastate

Latin dēvāstāre dēvāstāt- dē- de- vāstāre to lay waste (from vāstus empty, desolate euə- in Indo-European roots)

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
From Latin dēvastātus, perfect passive participle of dēvastō, from dē- (augmentative prefix) + vastō (“I destroy, I lay waste to”).

From Wiktionary