Added 4 October 2026
devastate
/ˈdɛv.ə.steɪt/ verb
In Latin: vastō, dēvastō, populor First recorded: 1638 Wiktionary
verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about devastate at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
- To ruin many or all things over a large area, such as most or all buildings of a city, or cities of a region, or trees of a forest.
- To destroy a whole collection of related ideas, beliefs, and strongly held opinions.
- To break beyond recovery or repair so that the only options are abandonment or the clearing away of useless remains (if any) and starting over.
Origin
Borrowed from Latin dēvastātus, perfect passive participle of dēvastō (“to lay waste, devastate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)); from dē- (augmentative prefix) + vastō (“to destroy, lay waste”). See vast. First attested in 1638.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)