Link Centre Dictionary

devastate

de·vas·tate

UK/ˈdɛv.ə.steɪt/ US/ˈdev.ə.stæɪt/ rare

verb

1.

devastate or ravage

  • “The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion”
Synonyms
2.

overwhelm or overpower

  • “He was devastated by his grief when his son died”

Origin

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.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.