Meanings
comparative more devastating · superlative most devastating
- Causing devastation.
Serious as was the flood damage in England, the bursting of some of the dykes on the coast of Holland resulted in an even more widespread and devastating inundation.
1953 April, “Devastation in Holland”, in Railway Magazine, page 2171 more example
“The whole world has a stake in maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. The security of commercial shipping lanes and global supply chains depends on it. And so does freedom of navigation worldwide. Make no mistake: conflict in the Taiwan Strait would be devastating.”
2023 June 3, Haley Britzky, Brad Lendon, quoting Lloyd Austin, “Taiwan war would be ‘devastating,’ warns US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as he criticizes China at Shangri-La security summit”, in CNN, archived from the original on 03 Jun 2023
- gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of devastate
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivemaking light of
adjectivewreaking or capable of wreaking complete destruction
adjectivephysically or spiritually devastating; often used in combination
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Bulgarian опустошителен
- опустошителен (opustošitelen)causing devastation
Catalan devastador
- devastadorcausing devastation
Finnish tuhoava
- tuhoavacausing devastation
French dévastateur
- dévastateurcausing devastation
German verheerend
- verheerendcausing devastation
Greek συντριπτικός
- συντριπτικός (syntriptikós)causing devastation
Irish sladach
- sladachcausing devastation
Latin vastificus
- vastificuscausing devastation
Portuguese devastador
- devastadorcausing devastation
Spanish devastador
- devastadorcausing devastation
Swedish förödande
- förödandecausing devastation
Cite this entry
devastating. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/devastating
“devastating.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/devastating. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “devastating,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/devastating.
Source: devastating on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.