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
However, with vaccination rates slipping and anti-vaccine misinformation and views gripping the country, health experts fear seeing more of these devastating cases.
—Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 11 Sep. 2025
The investigations that followed the attacks revealed a devastating failure of imagination within the intelligence community.
—Andrew Garbarino, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Sep. 2025
Protein aggregation underlies devastating disorders such as Alzheimer’s plaques, Parkinson’s Lewy bodies, and misfolded proteins in cancer.
—Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 11 Sep. 2025
Educators should check in with themselves about their own emotions before talking to kids about a devastating event like 9/11, Nelson said.
—Phaedra Trethan, USA Today, 11 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for devastating
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Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 11 Sep. 2025
The investigations that followed the attacks revealed a devastating failure of imagination within the intelligence community.
—Andrew Garbarino, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Sep. 2025
Protein aggregation underlies devastating disorders such as Alzheimer’s plaques, Parkinson’s Lewy bodies, and misfolded proteins in cancer.
—Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 11 Sep. 2025
Educators should check in with themselves about their own emotions before talking to kids about a devastating event like 9/11, Nelson said.
—Phaedra Trethan, USA Today, 11 Sep. 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 15 Sep. 2025.
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