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

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

Synonyms of devastating

• disastrous
• destructive
• devastative
• deadly

Examples of devastating in a Sentence

a devastating blow to our morale

Recent Examples on the Web

When mice at Patricia Hunt’s lab at Washington State University began losing fetuses with devastating birth defects — facial deformities and missing hindquarters — or failed to reproduce at all, Hunt immediately put on her detective hat. — Sandee Lamotte, CNN Money, 7 Aug. 2026

Another year removed from that devastating injury Glover is hopeful for his best season. — Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 6 Aug. 2026

Thanks to major leaps in the tech, these tools can now generate photorealistic fake footage at the drop of a hat — which could have devastating implications for efforts to keep disinformation at bay. — Victor Tangermann, Futurism, 6 Aug. 2026

The idea is devastating for Annie and Connor’s adoptive father Steven (Jay Duplass), whose infertility led to the adoption of the twins, until Ramona connects the dots that her colorblindness could be a result of Steven’s. — Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 5 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1634, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for devastating

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