devastated

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

Examples of devastated in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Fraudulent pet listings are leaving victims emotionally devastated and financially drained, Dennis Horton, senior director of the Rockford Regional Office, said in the announcement. —Abreanna Blose, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2025

So devastated were the locals that the tree’s remains lie in the Niger National Museum, and a commemorative metal sculpture stands in its place. —Ellen Walker, JSTOR Daily, 3 Sep. 2025

His parting vision of her funeral pyre both recalls and anticipates the devastated city of Carthage, sacked by Rome. —Literary Hub, 3 Sep. 2025

Brandon Bell/Getty Images But none of this prepared us for one of the most devastated areas, the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. —Arick Wierson, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1792, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for devastated

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