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

• annihilatory
• calamitous
• cataclysmal
• cataclysmic
• destructive
• devastative
• disastrous
• ruinous

Examples of devastating in a Sentence

a devastating blow to our morale

Recent Examples on the Web

Well, today people are lucky enough to avoid the devastating effects your family endured. —Patrick Skerrett, STAT, 18 May 2024

In an amazing bout of bad luck, Whitby’s family also owns Betty’s, a restaurant on the Lahaina waterfront in Maui that burned down last August during that island’s devastating fires. —Paul Rogers, The Mercury News, 17 May 2024

Jason and Brittany reflect on the Las Vegas shooting The 2017 Las Vegas shooting during Jason's set at the Route 91 Harvest music festival, which killed 60 people and left over 400 injured, was devastating for the couple. —Meg Walters, Peoplemag, 16 May 2024

But an iconic Paris landmark, the Notre Dame cathedral, will still be under renovation after a devastating fire that ignited in the cathedral and burned for 12 hours on April 14, 2019. —Todd Braje, The Conversation, 16 May 2024

Deadly heat waves, devastating fires, destructive storms — pick your poison. —Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times, 16 May 2024

The Israeli incursion has had devastating consequences for medical workers and patients, doctors and humanitarian groups say. —Leanne Abraham, New York Times, 15 May 2024

This poses a threat to corn demand that could be devastating for a state such as Illinois, the second-largest corn producer in the country. —Karina Atkins, Chicago Tribune, 15 May 2024

Um, just being devastated, not only for me, but seeing my dad the way -- that way was just devastating. —Peter Van Sant, CBS News, 11 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1634, in the meaning defined at sense 1