Devastate

• POS: Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: dev=as=tate

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Devastate, v.tr.
1 lay waste; cause great destruction to.
2 (often in passive) overwhelm with shock or grief; upset deeply.

Derivative

devastation n. devastator n.

Etymology

L devastare devastat- (as DE-, vastare lay waste)

THESAURUS

Devastate

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

ROGET THESAURUS

Devastate

Destruction

VB be destroyed, perish, fall to the ground, tumble, topple, go to pieces, fall to pieces, break up, crumble to dust, go to the dogs, go to the wall, go to smash, go to shivers, go to wreck, go to pot, go to wrack and ruin, go by the board, go all to smash, be all over, be all up, be all with, totter to its fall, destroy, do away with, make away with, nullify, annual, sacrifice, demolish, tear up, overturn, overthrow, overwhelm, upset, subvert, put an end to, seal the doom of, do in, do for, dish, undo, break up, cut up, break down, cut down, pull down, mow down, blow down, beat down, suppress, quash, put down, do a job on, cut short, take off, blot out, dispel, dissipate, dissolve, consume, smash, crash, quell, squash, squelch, crumple up, shatter, shiver, batter to pieces, tear to pieces, crush to pieces, cut to pieces, shake to pieces, pull to pieces, pick to pieces, laniate, nip, tear to rags, tear to tatters, crush to atoms, knock to atoms, ruin, strike out, throw over, knock down over, fell, sink, swamp, scuttle, wreck, shipwreck, engulf, ingulf, submerge, lay in ashes, lay in ruins, sweep away, erase, wipe out, expunge, raze, level with the dust, level with the ground, waste, atomize, vaporize, deal destruction, desolate, devastate, lay waste, ravage gut, disorganize, dismantle, devour, swallow up, sap, mine, blast, bomb, blow to smithereens, drop the big one, confound, exterminate, extinguish, quench, annihilate, snuff out, put out, stamp out, trample out, lay in the dust, trample in the dust, prostrate, tread under foot, crush under foot, trample under foot, lay the ax to the root of, make short work of, make clean sweep of, make mincemeat of, cut up root and branch, chop into pieces, cut into ribbons, fling to the winds, scatter to the winds, throw overboard, strike at the root of, sap the foundations of, spring a mine, blow up, ravage with fire and sword, cast to the dogs, eradicate.