devastate

CEFRB1

/ˈdɛv.ə.steɪt/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To cause great damage or emotional pain.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    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.

Examples

  • The flood waters will devastate the nearby town.

  • The news will certainly devastate him.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
1
Synonyms
4

Also pronounced

  • /ˈdev.ə.stæɪt/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

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

  2. 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.

  3. To greatly demoralize, to cause to suffer intense grief or dismay

More examples

In context

  • Halifax in Canada was devastated by a ship exploding in 1917. SS Mont Blanc, a French vessel loaded with 2.9 kilotons of explosives, collided with the Imo.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

A powerful earthquake could blank the entire coastal city within seconds.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

Borrowed from Latin dēvastātus, perfect passive participle of dēvastō (“to lay waste, devastate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)); from dē- (augmentative prefix) + vastō (“to destroy, lay waste”). See vast. First attested in 1638.