'Devastate' definitions:
Definition of 'devastate'
(from WordNet)
verb
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]
verb
Overwhelm or overpower; "He was devastated by his grief when his son died"
Definition of 'Devastate'
From: GCIDE
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- Whole countries . . . were devastated. --Macaulay.
- Syn: To waste; ravage; desolate; destroy; demolish; plunder; pillage. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'devastate'
From: 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