1
as in to ravage
to bring destruction to (something) through violent action
the city was devastated, first by the earthquake and then by fires
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to destroy
to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of
the explosion devastated an entire city block
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in to overwhelm
to subject to incapacitating emotional or mental stress
we were devastated by the awful news of his death
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of devastate
The entire embassy staff is heartbroken and devastated by their murder.
—
Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 22 May 2025
Johnson was devastated about her daughter’s death and told Fox 8 that their family was still processing their grief.
—Lesley Cosme Torres, People.com, 22 May 2025
Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated.
—Billal Rahman, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 May 2025
Beyond the immediate dead, the refugees, destroyed agriculture, loss of economic capacity, all would utterly devastate China.
—Suwanna Gauntlett Upjohn, Forbes.com, 15 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for devastate
Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 22 May 2025
Johnson was devastated about her daughter’s death and told Fox 8 that their family was still processing their grief.
—Lesley Cosme Torres, People.com, 22 May 2025
Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated.
—Billal Rahman, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 May 2025
Beyond the immediate dead, the refugees, destroyed agriculture, loss of economic capacity, all would utterly devastate China.
—Suwanna Gauntlett Upjohn, Forbes.com, 15 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for devastate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for devastate
Verb
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The council also scaled back the number of new hires the mayor proposed for the Los Angeles Fire Department in the wake of the wildfire that ravaged huge stretches of Pacific Palisades.—
David Zahniser,
Los Angeles Times,
23 May 2025
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Numerous celebrities, including Mel Gibson, Paris Hilton and Milo Ventimiglia lost their homes in the ravaging blaze.—
Edward Segarra,
USA Today,
22 May 2025
Verb
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a plea from a group of Native American activists and supporters to block a copper mining company from destroying an Apache religious site.—
Jack Birle,
The Washington Examiner,
27 May 2025
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During the week of my embed, the Russian military identified and destroyed a few of the Vampire pilots’ positions.—
Nataliya Gumenyuk,
The Atlantic,
27 May 2025
Verb
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The ‘Willy Wonka’ phase A sweet, sugary smell overwhelms the next pod at Goodblend. Gummies in hues of orange, red, yellow, green and blue sit on parchment paper a metal tray.—
Eleanor Dearman,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
23 May 2025
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Cruel and unaccountable events pile up, overwhelming any sense of normality.—
David Denby,
New Yorker,
23 May 2025
Verb
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There were missions that felt like a rally racing mini-game, asking me to navigate between timer-extending rings dotting barren desert ruins.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
3 June 2025
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The situation took a turn when Amy accidentally ruined her earbuds in the wash.—
Ashley Vega,
People.com,
3 June 2025
Verb
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Learning how to overcome your own anxiety is the first step to helping your kids do the same, said Robbins.—
Ashton Jackson,
CNBC,
30 May 2025
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The odds remain against them — only 16.1% of teams have overcome a 3-2 deficit in NBA playoff history — but the Knicks are coming off their best all-around performance of the series.—
Peter Sblendorio,
New York Daily News,
30 May 2025
Verb
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Facing greater competition and sensing more opportunity, the owners decided to close the hotel at the end of May and demolish the building next year.—
Vinod Sreeharsha,
Miami Herald,
20 May 2025
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Its current office building in the area would be demolished.—
Chris Higgins,
Kansas City Star,
20 May 2025
Verb
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Whatever credibility the report might have had as a product of a federal agency was shattered by its obvious errors, misrepresentations and outright fabrications of source materials, some of it plainly the product of the authors’ reliance on AI bots.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
3 June 2025
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In 1985, Michael Jordan shattered a backboard during a dunk in a summer exhibition game against the Italian team Stefanel Trieste.—
Ian Servantes,
Footwear News,
2 June 2025
Verb
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His cabin was a few miles south of the one the bear wrecked for for me, closer to the fringe of settlement.—
Ted Updike,
Outdoor Life,
22 May 2025
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Soon, the film studio’s fortunes turned with films like Die Hard – the explanation that producers Joel Silver and Larry Gordon gave in getting permission to use the Fox headquarters for Nakatomi Plaza for one night, only to stay weeks and wreck the place – is hilarious.—
Mike Fleming Jr,
Deadline,
19 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Devastate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/devastate. Accessed 6 Jun. 2025.
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