verb (used with object), dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing.
- to lay waste; render desolate: The invaders devastated the city.
- to overwhelm.
verb (tr)
- to lay waste or make desolate; ravage; destroy
- to confound or overwhelm, as with grief or shock
1630s, perhaps a back-formation from devastation. Apparently not common until 19c.; earlier verb form devast is attested from 1530s, from Middle French devaster. Related: devastated; devastating.