devastated
adjective
dev·as·tat·ed
ˈde-və-ˌstā-təd 
1
: brought to a state of ruin or destruction
Dr. Dawdy, a 38-year-old assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago, is one of the more unusual relief workers among the thousands who have come to the devastated expanses of Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.—
John Schwartz
John SchwartzI present here a steady flow model for the blast dynamics and propose that through much of the devastated area the blast was a supersonic flow of a complex multiphase (solid, liquid, vapour) mixture.—Susan Werner Kieffer
Susan Werner Kieffer2
: emotionally shattered or distraught
Doug never called. He dumped me for the cheerleader, and I was, in the parlance of teen-age romance, absolutely devastated.—Marialisa Calta
Marialisa CaltaMr. Jacoby was devastated; he felt he was a proven winner and should not be yanked for one bad half.—Ira Berkow
Ira BerkowExamples of devastated in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Two major wildfires devastated parts of northern Minnesota over the weekend; the Flanders Fire near Breezy Point has exceeded 1,600 acres and the Two Harbors fire has burned 355 acres.
—Aki Nace, CBS News, 18 May 2026
As her lie begins to unravel, her hunger for validation spirals into something far darker, drawing a devastated father into a desperate search and exposing a culture more obsessed with spectacle than consequence.
—Alex Ritman, Variety, 16 May 2026
Rescue workers ended search operations at the devastated building, which was struck this week during Russia’s heaviest air attack on the Ukrainian capital this year.
—Reuters, NBC news, 15 May 2026
George suddenly died in 1983 during a secret military overseas operation and left her devastated.
—Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 26 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for devastated
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Aki Nace, CBS News, 18 May 2026
As her lie begins to unravel, her hunger for validation spirals into something far darker, drawing a devastated father into a desperate search and exposing a culture more obsessed with spectacle than consequence.
—Alex Ritman, Variety, 16 May 2026
Rescue workers ended search operations at the devastated building, which was struck this week during Russia’s heaviest air attack on the Ukrainian capital this year.
—Reuters, NBC news, 15 May 2026
George suddenly died in 1983 during a secret military overseas operation and left her devastated.
—Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 26 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for devastated
Cite this Entry
“Devastated.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/devastated. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
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