devastate

About 0.21 uses per million words.

Meaning

1. verb 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.
2. verb To destroy a whole collection of related ideas, beliefs, and strongly held opinions.
3. verb 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.
4. verb To greatly demoralize, to cause to suffer intense grief or dismay

Similar words

ravage waste desolate lay waste to destroy ruin wreck demolish annihilate obliterate

Often followed by

the a and their her our an his it them

Word family

devastated devastates devastating devastation devastations devastative devastator devastators