devastate

From Latin dēvastātus, perfect passive participle of dēvastō, from dē- (augmentative prefix) + vastō (“I destroy, I lay waste to”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛvəsteɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

devastate (third-person singular simple present devastates, present participle devastating, simple past and past participle devastated)

1. To ruin many or all things over a large area, such as most or all buildings of a city, or cities of a region, or trees of a forest.
2. To destroy a whole collection of related ideas, beliefs, and strongly held opinions.
3. To break beyond recovery or repair so that the only options are abandonment or the clearing away of useless remains (if any) and starting over.

• (to lay waste) decimate (sometimes proscribed); destroy; raze (to structures); ruin

• devastated (adjective)

• devastation
• devastavit

• devastate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• devastate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• devastate at OneLook Dictionary Search

devastate

1. adverbial present passive participle of devastar

devastate

1. inflection of devastare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative
2. feminine plural of devastato

• destavate, detestava

dēvāstāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of dēvāstō