devastated

1 of 2

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

devastated

2 of 2

past tense and past participle of devastate

Examples of devastated in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

The region has weathered, quite literally, some difficult times in the past few years, after Hurricane Helene blew through in 2024 and devastated parts of the Asheville area, including Historic Biltmore Village. — Jeanne Bonner, CNN Money, 7 Oct. 2026

Strikingly, most Gazans express a wish to stay and help rebuild their devastated homeland rather than emigrate. — Michael Robbins, Foreign Affairs, 2 Oct. 2026

Vyan uses logic and the help of friendly Kurdish commander from the Iraqi government forces in Mosul to locate the IS snipers preventing civilians from leaving the devastated city. — Alissa Simon, Variety, 7 Sep. 2026

Rescuers continue to struggle to reach devastated communities days after the massive flooding that stemmed from a glacier collapse on the Nepal-Tibet border region on Wednesday. — Rudy Chinchilla, NBC news, 31 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1792, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for devastated

• abdicated
• abrogated
• acclimated
• activated
• actuated
• adumbrated
• advocated
• aggravated
• aggregated
• agitated
• allocated
• alternated