devastate
1Devastate — Dev as*tate (?; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Devastated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Devastating}.] [L. devastatus, p. p. of devastare to devastate; de + vastare to lay waste, vastus waste. See {Vast}.] To lay waste; to ravage; to desolate. [1913 Webster]… …
2devastate — I verb demolish, depopulate, depredate, desolate, despoil, destroy, gut, lever, overwhelm, pillage, plunder, raid, ransack, ravage, raze, ruin, sack, wreck II index damage, despoil, destroy (efface), ex …
3devastate — (v.) 1630s, perhaps a back formation from DEVASTATION (Cf. devastation). Apparently not common until 19c.; earlier verb form devast is attested from 1530s, from M.Fr. devaster. Related: devastated …
4devastate — waste, *ravage, sack, pillage, despoil, spoliate Analogous words: *destroy, demolish, raze: *ruin, wreck: plunder, loot, *rob, rifle …
5devastate — [v] demolish, destroy depredate, desecrate, desolate, despoil, devour, do one in*, lay waste, level, pillage, plunder, raid, ravage, raze, ruin, sack, smash, spoil, spoliate, stamp out*, take apart, total*, trash*, waste, wipe off map*, wreck;… …
6devastate — ► VERB 1) destroy or ruin. 2) overwhelm with severe shock or grief. DERIVATIVES devastation noun devastator noun. ORIGIN Latin devastare, from vastare lay waste …
7devastate — [dev′ə stāt΄] vt. devastated, devastating [< L devastatus, pp. of devastare, to lay waste < de , intens. + vastare, to make empty < vastus, empty: see VAST] 1. to lay waste; make desolate; ravage; destroy 2. to make helpless; overwhelm… …
8devastate — verb Devastate is used with these nouns as the subject: ↑cyclone, ↑earthquake, ↑hurricane, ↑tornado, ↑typhoon Devastate is used with these nouns as the object: ↑country, ↑economy, ↑industry …
9devastate */ — UK [ˈdevəˌsteɪt] / US verb [transitive, usually passive] Word forms devastate : present tense I/you/we/they devastate he/she/it devastates present participle devastating past tense devastated past participle devastated 1) to seriously damage or… …
10devastate — [17] Etymologically as well as semantically, devastate is related to ‘lay waste’. It comes from the past participle of Latin dēvāstāre, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix dē and vāstāre ‘lay waste’. This was a derivative of vāstus… …
