devastate

1 to bring destruction to (something) through violent action the city was devastated, first by the earthquake and then by fires Synonyms destroy, ravage, ruin, scourgeRelated Words despoil, foray, harry, loot, maraud, pillage, plunder, sack, strip; annihilate, desolate, eradicate, expunge, extinguish, extirpate, nuke, obliterate, rub out, shatter, smash, total, vaporize, waste, wipe out, wrack, wreck; decimate, mow; demolish, raze; crush, overpower, overrun, overthrow, overwhelmNear Antonyms recondition, recover, redeem, rehabilitate, restore; fix, mend, patch, repair, revamp

2 to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of the explosion devastated an entire city block Synonyms annihilate, cream, decimate, demolish, desolate, destroy, do in, extinguish, nuke, pull down, pulverize, raze, rub out, ruin, shatter, smash, tear down, total, vaporize, waste, wrack, wreckRelated Words beat, best, clobber, conquer, crush, defeat, drub, lick, master, overbear, overcome, overmatch, prevail (over), rout, scotch, skunk, subdue, surmount, thrash, trim, triumph (over), trounce, wallop, whip, win (against); blast, blow up, break, cripple, damage, deface, deteriorate, disfigure, disintegrate, dissolve, dynamite, harm, impair, injure, mangle, mar, mutilate, spoil, vitiate; erode, scour, sweep (away), wash out, wear (away); dilapidate, disassemble, dismantle, gut, take down, unbuild, undo, unmake; blot out, efface, eradicate, expunge, exterminate, extirpate, liquidate, obliterate, remove, root (out), snuff (out), stamp (out), wipe out; despoil, havoc, loot, pillage, plunder, ravage, sack, trample, trash, vandalize; assassinate, butcher, cut down, dispatch, execute, fell, kill, kill off, massacre, mow (down), murder, slaughter, slay, take out, zapNear Antonyms doctor, fix, mend, patch, recondition, repair, revamp; create, invent; assemble, fabricate, fashion, forge, form, frame, make, manufacture, mold, produce, shape; bring about, constitute, establish, father, found, institute, organize; conserve, preserve, protect, save; rebuild, reconstruct, remodel, renovate, restoreAntonyms build, construct, erect, put up, raise, rear, set up

3 to subject to incapacitating emotional or mental stress we were devastated by the awful news of his death Synonyms crush, overwhelm, floor, grind (down), oppress, overcome, overmaster, overpower, prostrate, snow under, swamp, whelmRelated Words deluge, drown, sink; confute, defeat, refute; break, demoralize, distress, disturb, rock, shatter, stagger, throw, unman, unnerve, upset