devastating

1 of 2

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

2

: 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

3

: extremely effective or powerful

a devastating satire

He had a devastating wit and an utter contempt for shoddy work in physics.

—Jeremy Bernstein

devastatingly

ˈde-və-ˌstā-tiŋ-lē 

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

Postcards from the Edge is a devastatingly savvy, bitingly funny, yet sad movie based on Carrie Fisher's autobiographical novel about Hollywood.

—Jeffrey Lyons

… is portrayed as a devastatingly effective power broker in the Senate.

—Alan Brinkley

devastating

2 of 2

present participle of devastate

Synonyms of devastating

Adjective

• disastrous
• destructive
• devastative
• deadly

Examples of devastating in a Sentence

Adjective

a devastating blow to our morale

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

The fighting in Yemen also marks a return to a devastating civil war after four years of relative calm. — Toqa Ezzidin, Los Angeles Times, 19 Sep. 2026

Nonrevenue sports are just as important and should be shielded from the potentially devastating effects of the current system. — The Orlando Sentinel, 19 Sep. 2026

These are the glimmers of something in the fringes that keep The Cherry Orchard, even in our age of jonesing to burn it all down, so miraculously delicate and devastating. — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 18 Sep. 2026

The survival thriller, directed by David Ayer, follows a Special Forces officer and his combat dog who, after a devastating plane crash, get stranded deep in the Alaskan wilderness. — Angelique Jackson, Variety, 18 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1634, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for devastating

• abdicating
• abrogating
• activating
• actuating
• advocating
• aggravating
• aggregating
• agitating
• allocating
• alternating
• animating
• annotating