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Devastate

//ˈdev.ə.stæɪt// verb

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To ruin many or all things over a large area, such as most or all buildings of a city, or cities of a region, or trees of a forest.

    "Halifax in Canada was devastated by a ship exploding in 1917. SS Mont Blanc, a French vessel loaded with 2.9 kilotons of explosives, collided with the Imo."

  2. 2
    overwhelm or overpower wordnet
  3. 3
    To destroy a whole collection of related ideas, beliefs, and strongly held opinions.
  4. 4
    cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly wordnet
  5. 5
    To break beyond recovery or repair so that the only options are abandonment or the clearing away of useless remains (if any) and starting over.
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  1. 6
    To greatly demoralize, to cause to suffer intense grief or dismay

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dēvastātus, perfect passive participle of dēvastō (“to lay waste, devastate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)); from dē- (augmentative prefix) + vastō (“to destroy, lay waste”). See vast. First attested in 1638.

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