devastating

adjective

dev·​as·​tat·​ing ˈde-və-ˌstā-tiŋ 

1

: causing great damage or harm

a devastating flood/earthquake

a devastating injury

A devastating coastal tsunami could also result from a severe displacement of the San Andreas Fault.

—Gary Sandquist

2

: causing extreme emotional pain

a devastating loss

Even the most banal domestic melodramas, readers come to understand, are experienced as devastating tragedies by children living them for the first time.

—Entertainment Weekly

3

: extremely effective or powerful

a devastating satire

He had a devastating wit and an utter contempt for shoddy work in physics.

—Jeremy Bernstein

devastatingly

ˈde-və-ˌstā-tiŋ-lē 

adverb

Some people recover readily from the infection, but in others it becomes disseminated, spreading rapidly and devastatingly from lungs to bones, skin and nervous system

—Lawrence Galton

Postcards from the Edge is a devastatingly savvy, bitingly funny, yet sad movie based on Carrie Fisher's autobiographical novel about Hollywood.

—Jeffrey Lyons

… is portrayed as a devastatingly effective power broker in the Senate.

—Alan Brinkley

Synonyms

• annihilatory
• calamitous
• cataclysmal
• cataclysmic
• destructive
• devastative
• disastrous
• ruinous

Examples of devastating in a Sentence

a devastating blow to our morale

Recent Examples on the Web

There is weak industry interest in the region, and lawmakers from both parties have raised concerns about possible oil spills devastating local beaches and tourism. —Maxine Joselow The Washington Post, arkansasonline.com, 5 Jan. 2025

The vote came after McCarthy worked with Democrats to avoid a devastating government shutdown. —Riley Beggin, USA TODAY, 4 Jan. 2025

These devastating experiences, 21-year-old Natalia says, have left her grappling with complex anxiety and post-traumatic stress. —Danielle Bacher, People.com, 4 Jan. 2025

Knowing the importance of an indoor-outdoor connection but the potentially devastating solar gain of direct sun, the architect oriented the custom home’s floor plan on an east-west axis, focusing its walls of windows north toward the lake at the back of the house while avoiding glare. —Elizabeth Fazzare, Architectural Digest, 3 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1634, in the meaning defined at sense 1