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

The challenge: governing a devastated country with many ethnic and religious groups. —Brittney Melton, NPR, 20 Dec. 2024

As for the devastated country Assad left behind, its future is now up in the air, said Daniel Byman in The New York Times. —The Week Uk, theweek, 14 Dec. 2024

The Kremlin has also pushed westward of Bakhmut, the devastated Donetsk city Russia captured in May 2023, and poured resources into seizing Toretsk, southwest of Bakhmut. —David Faris, Newsweek, 3 Nov. 2024

From the Philippines through southern China and Vietnam, and onto Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar, the storm killed hundreds and devastated communities and livelihoods. —Curtis S. Chin and Jose B. Collazo, CNBC, 25 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1792, in the meaning defined at sense 1