devastated

adjective

dev·​as·​tat·​ed ˈde-və-ˌstā-təd 

1

: brought to a state of ruin or destruction

Dr. Dawdy, a 38-year-old assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago, is one of the more unusual relief workers among the thousands who have come to the devastated expanses of Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

—John Schwartz

I present here a steady flow model for the blast dynamics and propose that through much of the devastated area the blast was a supersonic flow of a complex multiphase (solid, liquid, vapour) mixture.

—Susan Werner Kieffer

2

: emotionally shattered or distraught

Doug never called. He dumped me for the cheerleader, and I was, in the parlance of teen-age romance, absolutely devastated.

—Marialisa Calta

Mr. Jacoby was devastated; he felt he was a proven winner and should not be yanked for one bad half.

—Ira Berkow

Examples of devastated in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Dad is trying to keep things together, sending his kids to school, feeding them and reading to them at night (although the folkloric story of Baba Yaga might not be most suitable material for devastated pre-teens). —Damon Wise, Deadline, 25 Jan. 2025

Developed by Team Ninja and Platinum Games, the game is set in a devastated, post-apocalyptic Tokyo filled with dark visuals, new enemy types and fresh gameplay that builds on and modernizes the franchise's classic and familiar functions. —Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY, 24 Jan. 2025

Altadena reopens to reveal devastated homes — but a community still standing. —Hunter Clauss, Los Angeles Times, 23 Jan. 2025

If last week's ceasefire holds, experts caution that rebuilding the devastated territory will take decades and cost tens of billions of dollars. —Scott Neuman, NPR, 22 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1792, in the meaning defined at sense 1