devastating

adjective

dev·as·tat·ing ˈde-və-ˌstā-tiŋ

Synonyms of devastating next

: causing great damage or harm

a devastating flood/earthquake

a devastating injury

A devastating coastal tsunami could also result from a severe displacement of the San Andreas Fault.—

Gary Sandquist

: causing extreme emotional pain

a devastating loss

Even the most banal domestic melodramas, readers come to understand, are experienced as devastating tragedies by children living them for the first time.—

Entertainment Weekly

: extremely effective or powerful

a devastating satire

He had a devastating wit and an utter contempt for shoddy work in physics.—

Jeremy Bernstein

devastatingly

ˈde-və-ˌstā-tiŋ-lē

adverb

Some people recover readily from the infection, but in others it becomes disseminated, spreading rapidly and devastatingly from lungs to bones, skin and nervous system —

Lawrence Galton

Postcards from the Edge is a devastatingly savvy, bitingly funny, yet sad movie based on Carrie Fisher's autobiographical novel about Hollywood. —

Jeffrey Lyons

… is portrayed as a devastatingly effective power broker in the Senate. —

Alan Brinkley

Examples of devastating in a Sentence

a devastating blow to our morale

Recent Examples on the Web In a 2021 New Yorker essay, Parul Sehgal wrote about the prevalent use of a single devastating backstory to easily explain the totality of characters, leaving little mystery and denying consumers a morally complicated experience. —

Kyndall Cunningham, Vox, 11 Aug. 2024 By doing so, victims must relive their devastating experiences. —

Angel Saunders, Peoplemag, 10 Aug. 2024 But whereas Lumet’s devastating coming-of-age story provided a major shot to the heart, especially in its portrayal of a teenager trying to crawl out from under his parents’ weighty shadows, Mexico 86 is less emotionally effective overall, and works best during its handful of suspense sequences. —

Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Aug. 2024 Almost a year to the day of the devastating wildfires in Maui that killed at least 102 people and leveled 2,200 structures, the community has a team to rally around in a group of 11- and 12-year-olds from Wailuku Little League. —

Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 10 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for devastating

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'devastating.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.