[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