devastate
part of speech
verb (devastate, devastates, devastated, devastating); adjective forms: devastated, devastating
meaning for a pupil
1) To destroy or badly damage a place, so little is left. tree →
2) To make someone feel terribly shocked and sad. tree →
3) (informal) devastating can also mean extremely strong or impressive, as in «a devastating goal». tree →
sense in the lessons
In geography and history it describes storms, floods, fires and wars that ruin towns and farms; in stories it shows a character's deep grief; phrases: «devastated by the news», «a devastating fire», «left devastated».
examples
- The hurricane devastated the little island town. tree →
- Bushfires devastated huge areas of forest in Australia. tree →
- Mia was devastated when her old dog died. tree →
- The flood devastated the farmers' crops. tree →
- The news of the factory closing devastated the whole village. tree →
- The team was devastated after losing in the last minute. tree →
- She hit a devastating shot into the top corner. tree →
- The war devastated the city, but people rebuilt it. tree →
- He first sent him to kill the Chimaera, a monster which was at this time devastating the country. tree →
note
Regular verb. «Devastated» (feeling) and «devastating» (causing it): I was devastated; the news was devastating. Noun: devastation (uncountable). Stronger than «upset» or «damaged»; do not use it for small things unless joking.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «devastate» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.