How to Use devastate in a Sentence

devastate

verb
Definition of devastatenext
Synonyms for devastatenext
  • The flood devastated the town.
  • The disease has devastated the area's oak tree population.
  • The hurricane left the island completely devastated.
  • Hashem was devastated to the point of backing out of the deal.
    — Nate Jackson, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2023
  • In the treeless Aleutians, rats can devastate birds that nest on the ground.
    — Morgan Krakow, Anchorage Daily News, 28 Nov. 2021
  • Their rental house, in South Lake Tahoe, backed up to the forest that had been devastated by the wildfire in 2021.
    — Paige Williams, The New Yorker, 25 Nov. 2024
  • The part of the island which includes the historic town Lahaina was devastated by the fires.
    — Analisa Novak, CBS News, 19 Sep. 2023
  • Jackson said she is still devastated over the loss of her youngest son.
    — Kelly Davis, The Mercury News, 4 Nov. 2024
  • The Coquette’s jealousy leads the Baron, the host of the ball, to stab the Poet; the Sleepwalker, devastated, carries him away.
    — Gia Kourlas, New York Times, 3 Oct. 2023
  • The fact of the matter is Lindsay is devastated and I'm crushed with how all this transpired.
    — Bailey Richards, Peoplemag, 9 Nov. 2023
  • This week marks three months of war that continues to devastate Gaza as the bodies and rubble pile up in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre.
    — TIME, 11 Jan. 2024
  • Frankenstein the novel is about many things, including the life of the mind and how the human heart divides and devastates us.
    — Mikal Gilmore, Rolling Stone, 31 Oct. 2023
  • And deluges and floods devastated areas around the world.
    — Tom Yulsman, Discover Magazine, 29 Jan. 2024
  • He was devastated but didn’t know what else to do other than accept they were lost and move on.
    — Jonathan Edwards, Washington Post, 6 Nov. 2023
  • On May 13, we were devastated to hear that the royal family of the Netherlands had sailed to Britain.
    — Smithsonian Magazine, 15 May 2023
  • So, when Garcia received the news from the vet in June that Nala had cancer, she was devastated.
    — Jordan Greene, Peoplemag, 13 Aug. 2024
  • Coal plants can be the largest employer in a region, and plant closures can devastate the towns and counties that host them.
    — Ryan Randazzo, The Arizona Republic, 8 Oct. 2022
  • More than a decade later, fans of the wildly popular group were devastated to learn of the death of Liam Payne last week at age 31.
    — Katie Atkinson, Billboard, 22 Oct. 2024
  • This leaves the band’s fans devastated, including a young boy named Sea (played by Chang).
    — Sara Merican, Deadline, 7 Aug. 2024
  • The 29-year-old was just one of the scores of foreigners who became caught up in the attack that has devastated families around the world.
    — Heather Chen, CNN, 13 Oct. 2023
  • Gazans welcomed the prospect of a lull in the fighting that has devastated much of their territory.
    — Hiba Yazbek, New York Times, 22 Nov. 2023
  • Both cousins were devastated over their younger cousin’s loss.
    — Kerry Burke, New York Daily News, 13 Aug. 2024
  • The return of an active rail route through this desert landscape would devastate the unique and in many places sacred character of the area.
    — Ernie Cowan, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Jan. 2023
  • Otters eat sea urchins, which can devastate kelp forests.
    — Tara Duggan, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 May 2022
  • If just one nuclear weapon survives to devastate a city, the attack will have failed.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 28 Oct. 2021
  • Taylor was devastated when Todd died a year later in a plane crash.
    — Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 4 Aug. 2024
  • There is no mechanical way to help the overgrown turf that wouldn’t devastate your lawn.
    — Tom MacCubbin, orlandosentinel.com, 16 Oct. 2021
  • Prior to Suzume’s release in Japan last year, Shinkai held a screening of the film in Tōhoku, the region devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
    — Kayti Burt, Rolling Stone, 15 Apr. 2023
  • Her mother was devastated by her prognosis: Audrey has a 30 to 40% chance of being cured, her mother told the Journal Sentinel.
    — Cathy Kozlowicz, Journal Sentinel, 23 Dec. 2024
  • These incursions devastated crops, while plummeting wheat prices during the Great Depression compounded the struggles of the soldier settlers and other farmers.
    — Scott Travers, Forbes, 26 Dec. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'devastate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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