[syn: crushing, devastating]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Devastate \Dev"as*tate\ (?; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
Devastated; p. pr. & vb. n. Devastating.] [L. devastatus,
p. p. of devastare to devastate; de + vastare to lay waste,
vastus waste. See Vast.]
To lay waste; to ravage; to desolate.
[1913 Webster]
Whole countries . . . were devastated. --Macaulay.
Syn: To waste; ravage; desolate; destroy; demolish; plunder;
pillage.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
devastating \devastating\ adj.
1. highly critical; making light of; as, a devastating
portrait of human folly.
Syn: annihilating, withering.
[WordNet 1.5]
2. causing or capable of causing complete destruction; as, a
devastating hurricane.
Syn: annihilative.
[WordNet 1.5]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
devastating
adj 1: making light of; "afire with annihilating invective"; "a
devastating portrait of human folly"; "to compliments
inflated I've a withering reply"- W.S.Gilbert [syn:
annihilating, devastating, withering]
2: wreaking or capable of wreaking complete destruction;
"possessing annihilative power"; "a devastating hurricane";
"the guns opened a withering fire" [syn: annihilative,
annihilating, devastating, withering]
3: physically or spiritually devastating; often used in
combination; "a crushing blow"; "a crushing rejection";
"bone-crushing" [syn: crushing, devastating]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
79 Moby Thesaurus words for "devastating":
acid, baneful, beaming, bewitching, bitter, blooming, bright,
brilliant, calamitous, captivating, cataclysmal, cataclysmic,
catastrophic, caustic, consuming, consumptive, dazzling, deadly,
demolishing, demolitionary, depredatory, desolating, destroying,
destructive, disastrous, divine, doomful, enthralling, fatal,
fateful, fratricidal, glamorous, glorious, glowing, gorgeous,
heavenly, incisive, internecine, keen, killing, mordant, nihilist,
nihilistic, overpowering, penetrating, radiant, ravaging, raving,
ravishing, resplendent, ruining, ruinous, sarcastic, sardonic,
satirical, savage, self-destructive, shining, sparkling,
spectacular, spellbinding, splendid, splendorous, splendrous,
stunning, sublime, subversionary, subversive, suicidal, telling,
trenchant, vandalic, vandalish, vandalistic, virulent, vitriolic,
wasteful, wasting, withering