DEVASTATE


Meaning of DEVASTATE in English

dev ‧ a ‧ state /ˈdevəsteɪt/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]

[ Date: 1600-1700 ; Language: Latin ; Origin: devastare , from vastare 'to lay waste, destroy' ]

1 . to make someone feel extremely shocked and sad:

Rob was devastated by the news of her death.

2 . to damage something very badly or completely:

The city centre was devastated by the bomb.

—devastation /ˌdevəˈsteɪʃ ə n/ noun [uncountable]

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THESAURUS

▪ destroy to damage something so badly that it no longer exists or cannot be used or repaired:

The earthquake almost completely destroyed the city.

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The twin towers were destroyed in a terrorist attack.

▪ devastate to damage a large area very badly and destroy many things in it:

Allied bombings in 1943 devastated the city.

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The country’s economy has been devastated by years of fighting.

▪ demolish to completely destroy a building, either deliberately or by accident:

The original 15th century house was demolished in Victorian times.

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The plane crashed into a suburb of Paris, demolishing several buildings.

▪ flatten to destroy a building or town by knocking it down, bombing it etc, so that nothing is left standing:

The town centre was flattened by a 500 lb bomb.

▪ wreck to deliberately damage something very badly, especially a room or building:

The toilets had been wrecked by vandals.

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They just wrecked the place.

▪ trash informal to deliberately destroy a lot of the things in a room, house etc:

Apparently, he trashed his hotel room while on drugs.

▪ obliterate formal to destroy a place so completely that nothing remains:

The nuclear blast obliterated most of Hiroshima.

▪ reduce something to ruins/rubble/ashes to destroy a building or town completely:

The town was reduced to rubble in the First World War.

▪ ruin to spoil something completely, so that it cannot be used or enjoyed:

Fungus may ruin the crop.

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The new houses will ruin the view.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.