Adjacent Words

Devastate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DEVASTATE, v.t. [L., to waste. See Waste.] To lay waste; to waste; to ravage; to desolate; to destroy improvements.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly; "The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion" [syn: lay waste to, waste, devastate, desolate, ravage, scourge]
2: overwhelm or overpower; "He was devastated by his grief when his son died"

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (-tated; -tating) Etymology: Latin devastatus, past participle of devastare, from de- + vastare to lay waste — more at waste Date: 1638 1. to bring to ruin or desolation by violent action <a country devastated by war> 2. to reduce to chaos, disorder, or helplessness ; overwhelm <devastated by grief> <her wisecrack devastated the class> Synonyms: see ravage • devastatingly adverb • devastation noun • devastative adjective • devastator noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 lay waste; cause great destruction to. 2 (often in passive) overwhelm with shock or grief; upset deeply. Derivatives: devastation n. devastator n. Etymology: L devastare devastat- (as DE-, vastare lay waste)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Devastate Dev"as*tate (?; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Devastated; p. pr. & vb. n. Devastating.] [L. devastatus, p. p. of devastare to devastate; de + vastare to lay waste, vastus waste. See Vast.] To lay waste; to ravage; to desolate. Whole countries . . . were devastated. --Macaulay. Syn: To waste; ravage; desolate; destroy; demolish; plunder; pillage.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(devastates, devastating, devastated) If something devastates an area or a place, it damages it very badly or destroys it totally. A few days before, a fire had devastated large parts of Windsor Castle. = ravage, wreck VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Ravage, pillage, plunder, sack, spoil, despoil, destroy, desolate, strip, lay waste.

Moby Thesaurus

abash, bring to ruin, chagrin, condemn, confound, consume, damn, deal destruction, decimate, demolish, depopulate, depredate, desecrate, desolate, despoil, destroy, devour, discombobulate, discomfit, disconcert, dispeople, dissolve, embarrass, engorge, flatten, floor, gobble, gobble up, gut, gut with fire, havoc, humiliate, incinerate, lay in ruins, lay waste, level, mortify, nonplus, obliterate, overwhelm, pillage, ravage, raze, ruin, ruinate, sack, shatter, shipwreck, shock, spoil, spoliate, swallow up, take aback, throw into disorder, unleash destruction, unleash the hurricane, unpeople, upheave, vandalize, vaporize, waste, wrack, wreak havoc, wreck