devastating
adjective
dev·as·tat·ing
ˈde-və-ˌstā-tiŋ 
1
: causing great damage or harm
a devastating flood/earthquake
a devastating injury
A devastating coastal tsunami could also result from a severe displacement of the San Andreas Fault.—
Gary Sandquist
Gary Sandquist2
: causing extreme emotional pain
a devastating loss
Even the most banal domestic melodramas, readers come to understand, are experienced as devastating tragedies by children living them for the first time.—Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly3
: extremely effective or powerful
a devastating satire
He had a devastating wit and an utter contempt for shoddy work in physics.—Jeremy Bernstein
Jeremy Bernstein
devastatingly
adverb
Some people recover readily from the infection, but in others it becomes disseminated, spreading rapidly and devastatingly from lungs to bones, skin and nervous system
—Lawrence Galton
Lawrence Galton
Postcards from the Edge is a devastatingly savvy, bitingly funny, yet sad movie based on Carrie Fisher's autobiographical novel about Hollywood.
—Jeffrey Lyons
Jeffrey Lyons
… is portrayed as a devastatingly effective power broker in the Senate.
—Alan Brinkley
Alan Brinkley
Examples of devastating in a Sentence
a devastating blow to our morale
Recent Examples on the Web
With devastating indifference, President Donald Trump and his special assistant Elon Musk have crippled Food for Peace, a program few Americans have heard of, but one that did tremendous good for over six decades.
— Made By History, Time, 23 Apr. 2025
But his dreams of changing the world are shattered when a routine check-up reveals a devastating diagnosis: a rare and aggressive cancer.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 23 Apr. 2025
Five years after a devastating pandemic, global health is falling off the public’s radar just as governments around the world are slashing foreign assistance funding.
—Jennifer Lotito, Forbes.com, 23 Apr. 2025
Memories are fresh here of the devastating two quakes in southern Turkey in 2023.
—Ross Rosenfeld, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for devastating
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Made By History, Time, 23 Apr. 2025
But his dreams of changing the world are shattered when a routine check-up reveals a devastating diagnosis: a rare and aggressive cancer.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 23 Apr. 2025
Five years after a devastating pandemic, global health is falling off the public’s radar just as governments around the world are slashing foreign assistance funding.
—Jennifer Lotito, Forbes.com, 23 Apr. 2025
Memories are fresh here of the devastating two quakes in southern Turkey in 2023.
—Ross Rosenfeld, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for devastating
Cite this Entry
“Devastating.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/devastating. Accessed 30 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share