dévaster

\de.vas.te\

/\de.vas.te\/ verb

The verdict

“dévaster” is uncommon French (frequency #62,948 among 5,307 “D” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#62,948
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ruiner ; ravager ; piller ; détruire ; faire périr.

Corpus desk

Index FR-devaster · dévaster · French

dévaster · rank #62,948 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #62,948
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH dévote

Nearest frequency peer: dévote (+1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « dévaster »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « dévaster » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for dévaster
PropertyValue
Headworddévaster
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\de.vas.te\
Letters8
Frequency rank#62,948
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « dévaster » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).dévastertombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « dévote » (#62,949), « dérangeantes » (#62,946), « dévoyé » (#62,950). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « dévaster » est au #62,948. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

dévaster is uncommon French at frequency #62,948 among 5,307 “D” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \de.vas.te\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for dévaster, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is dévaster, spelled D-É-V-A-S-T-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ruiner ; ravager ; piller ; détruire ; faire périr.
  2. 2
    Détruire.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how dévaster appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Ils volaient les provisions du logis, ils dévastaient les quelques arbres fruitiers de l’enclos, ils étaient les démons familiers, pillards et criards, de cette étrange maison de la folie lucide.
  2. Chaque matin, un détachement de soldats précède la colonne pour protéger les douars des velléités pillardes de leurs camarades. Ordre a été donné de ne plus dévaster les champs.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "dévaster"?
"dévaster" is spelled D-É-V-A-S-T-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \de.vas.te\.
What does "dévaster" mean?
As a verb, "dévaster" means: Ruiner ; ravager ; piller ; détruire ; faire périr.
How do you pronounce "dévaster"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dévaster" is \de.vas.te\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dévaster" come from?
"dévaster" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dévaster", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list