Third-person singular present tense of devastate; causes massive destruction or overwhelming emotional impact.
From Latin 'devastare' (de- completely + vastare to lay waste). Entered English in the 1600s from French, becoming common in the 18th century.
The word 'devastate' originally meant only physical destruction, but by the 1800s it had expanded to include emotional devastation—our language evolved to describe invisible injuries with the same intensity as physical ones!
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