devastation

See also: dévastation

English

Etymology

From Middle French dévastation.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌdɛ.vəˈsteɪ.ʃən/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌdɛ.vəˈsteɪ.ʃn̩/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

devastation (countable and uncountable, plural devastations)

1. The act of devastating, or the state of being devastated; a laying waste.
   • 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, “New Jersey continues to cope with Hurricane Sandy”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, retrieved 31 October 2012:

     Perhaps as startling as the sheer toll was the devastation to some of the state’s well-known locales. Boardwalks along the beach in Seaside Heights, Belmar and other towns on the Jersey Shore were blown away. Amusement parks, arcades and restaurants all but vanished. Bridges to barrier islands buckled, preventing residents from even inspecting the damage to their property.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

2. (law) Waste or misapplication of the assets of a deceased person by an executor or administrator; devastavit.

   Synonym: devastavit

Synonyms

• havoc

Derived terms

• devastational

Translations

act of devastating or state of being devastated

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: опустоше́ние (bg) n (opustošénie)
• Catalan: devastació (ca) f
• Dutch: verwoesting (nl) f
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: hävitys (fi), tuho (fi)
• French: dévastation (fr) f
• Galician: devastación (gl) f
• Georgian: განადგურება (ganadgureba), გაპარტახება (gaṗarṭaxeba), აოხრება (aoxreba), გაჩანაგება (gačanageba)
• German: Verwüstung (de) f, Zerstörung (de) f, Verwüsten n, Verheeren n, Verheerung (de) f, Zunichtemachen n (act), Zerbrochenheit f (state of a person), tiefe innere Erschütterung f
• Greek: αφανισμός (el) n (afanismós), συντριβή (el) f (syntriví), καταστροφή (el) f (katastrofí)
• Hindi: नाश (hi) m (nāś)
• Hungarian: pusztulás (hu), pusztítás (hu)
• Irish: croíbhriseadh m (emotional), buairt f (emotional), uafás m (emotional), réabadh m (of landscape, etc.), scrios m (of landscape, etc.), léirscrios m (of landscape, etc.), slad (ga) m (of landscape, etc.), bánú m (of landscape, etc.), bánú m
• Kazakh: қаңырау (qaŋıraw), ойрандалу (oyrandaluw)
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: пустош m (pustoš)
• Malay: kehancuran, kemusnahan, penghancuran, pemusnahan
• Māori: aneatanga, anea
• Polish: dewastacja (pl) f
• Portuguese: devastação (pt) f
• Romanian: devastare (ro)
• Russian: опустоше́ние (ru) n (opustošénije), разоре́ние (ru) n (razorénije)
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: devastación (es) f, asolamiento (es) m, arrasamiento (es) m, quebranto (es)
• Swedish: ödeläggelse (sv) c
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can

  Ottoman Turkish: خراب (harab)

• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can

waste of the goods of the deceased