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devastation

[dev-uh-stey-shuhn]

noun

the act of devastating; destruction.

devastated state; desolation.

Origin:
1425–75; late Middle English < Late Latin dēvastātiōn- (stem of dēvastātiō), equivalent to Latin dēvastāt(us) (see devastate) + -iōn- -ion

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To devastation

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Devastation is always a great word to know.

So is quincunx. Does it mean:

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

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Example Sentences

Adding to parental devastation is the usual mystery of why a stillbirth occurred.

Katrina taught us what devastation extreme weather can inflict on colleges.

But farther south, where the devastation and disorder was much more severe, anger set in.

EXPAND

Adding to parental devastation is the usual mystery of why a stillbirth occurred.

Katrina taught us what devastation extreme weather can inflict on colleges.

But farther south, where the devastation and disorder was much more severe, anger set in.

Researchers have confirmed a long-suspected link between logging and the devastation of forest fires in tropical rain forests.

It's bad enough that all this ecological devastation is for a pill that doesn't even work.

The devastation of that city drew gold out of the world's major money centers.

Not far below these directives is the implementation of strategies designed to stave off the after-effects of devastation.

Vietnam would have avoided the ecological devastation wrought by bombs and defoliants.

But such devastation can be measured in dollars, as well as lives.

Watch video from inside a tornado, create your own hurricane, and see photos of tsunami devastation.

Very little of the devastation resulting from this earthquake was from the initial shaking.

Texas, after a tornado scattered devastation across them.

It's common in areas of devastation for rescuers to tag names on newly created landmarks.

It is hard to see how a proper vote could be held amid such devastation.

You've seen news footage of the devastation caused by major oil spills, and you cringe every time you change your oil.

The economic modelling data was entirely ignored when it showed that devastation fast approaching.

They were a defeated nation so they had to overcome a devastation of the spirit.

It is hard to see how they could hold a proper vote amid such devastation.

Without a doubt, an asteroid capable of bringing on global devastation is heading our way.

Item: worldwide incease in amount and devastation of wildfires.

It jump-started people beginning careers in art amid the devastation.

For the moment, all this devastation remains largely hidden.

Witness the devastation from this incredible hurricane-from veterans, local residents, and government officials.

Even a toddler has the wisdom necessary to recognize devastation.

Inherent they knew that devastation of a natural resource would not benifit those to come, their children and those to follow.

Most tragic of course is the heavy loss of human life and devastation of livelihoods in the affected regions.

The devastation would be mostly from the consequences of volcanic emissions.

Despite the devastation which this caused to agriculture, the disease was confined to certain areas of the country.

That's only one small part of the devastation that fossil fuel harvesting has created across the country.

The polarisation of this question and this debate is the anathema having its heart in the devastation of the global economy.

Great to hear that a small amount of money is going to help control the environmental devastation produced by uncontrolled greed.

The list runs from conflicts that claimed a thousand or so lives to the devastation of the two world wars.

People who drew their livings from the waters, by fishing or tourism, feared devastation.

The devastation of the industrial economy is, paradoxically, evidence of such change.

They could be using that money to improve education and the infrastructure, and clean up the devastation.

But the hurricane wreaked devastation in selected areas.

The only thing that has a chance of turning this devastation around is student activism.

The devastation of world wars and the rise of cities led to a demand for grand-scale.

Every spring the coastal waters turn into a scene of devastation and death.

See scenes of the devastation from what is still called the worst.

We'll hear from the people and places witnessing firsthand the devastation of extreme weather events.

Similar devastation from small arms occurs worldwide.

She is recovering from the emotional devastation of losing both her parents in an automobile accident caused by a drunken driver.

When the ash finally settles, a scene of total devastation is revealed.

In many ways, the financial devastation of his life is as astonishing as the emotional devastation.

But the storm's devastation was so vast that exact numbers are still uncertain.

Terrible distress and devastation manifest everywhere.

Only after recovery will it be clear whether this reflects widespread devastation among small industrial.

Now a new study finds that the combination of climate change and invasive species is compounding the devastation of ecosystems.

And a place of environmental devastation that government is powerless to stop.

And the area has still not fully recovered from the devastation and death brought by this incredible storm.

Yet historically it has taken a crisis of energy supply or ecological devastation to encourage widespread use of solar energy.

No one yet knows how widely the earthquake's devastation has spread.

Historically, gold mining and the gold standard have contributed to a great deal of ecological devastation.

Mending the devastation they wrought will require more statesmanship than the nation has ever known.

The result is found in the devastation of the quake.

Natural disasters are also likelier to cause worse devastation in poorer places.

Of course mining is highly mechanized, creating few jobs compared to the devastation.

It is this kind of economic devastation that points to the downfall of the euro.

It also brings attention to the threats and devastation of cancer that is reminded to us so often.

They didn't realize about the negative externalities that the devastation of their forests would have on the world.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

devastate (ˈdɛvəˌsteɪt)

—vb
1.	to lay waste or make desolate; ravage; destroy
2.	to confound or overwhelm, as with grief or shock

[C17: from Latin dēvastāre, from de- + vastāre to ravage; related to vastus waste, empty]

devas'tation

—n

'devastative

—*adj*

'devastator

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

devastation

mid-15c., from M.Fr. devastation, from L.L. devastationem, from L. devastare "lay waste completely," from de- "completely" + vastare "lay waste," from vastus "empty, desolate" (see waste).

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Matching Quote

"It is in these acts called trivialities that the seeds of joy are forever wasted, until men and women look round with haggard faces at the devastation their own waste has made, and say, the earth bears no harvest of sweetness—calling their denial knowledge."

-George Eliot

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devastation

dev·as·ta·tion