devastate
/ˈdɛv.ə.steɪt/verb
devastate is spelled D-E-V-A-S-T-A-T-E: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 45,947th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, devastate means “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” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in devastate?
| Letters | 9: D-E-V-A-S-T-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 45,947th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is devastate?
Devastate appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 45,947th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce devastate?
- US /ˈdɛv.ə.steɪt/
- Australia /ˈdev.ə.stæɪt/
Devastate has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-devastate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of devastate
- devastates present, singular, he/she/it
- devastating participle, present
- devastated participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does devastate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
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
To destroy a whole collection of related ideas, beliefs, and strongly held opinions.
- 3
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
To greatly demoralize, to cause to suffer intense grief or dismay
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Devastate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to ruin many or all things over a large area:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does devastate come from?
Borrowed from Latin dēvastātus, perfect passive participle of dēvastō (“to lay waste, devastate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)); from dē- (augmentative prefix) + vastō (“to destroy, lay waste”). See vast. First attested in 1638.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).