devastation
/ˌdevəˈsteɪʃən/deh-vuh-STAY-shuhn
/ˌdɛvəˈsteɪʃən/deh-vuh-STAY-shuhn
Meaningthe act of devastating
Common meaning: great destruction
Other meanings: deep shock
- dedown, away, off; undoing
- vastempty, hugeLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1959 · scan
- atverb or adjective ending: to make, having
- ionnoun ending: act or result
‘down, away, off’ + ‘empty, huge’ → devastation
Journey through time
- Latinvastus, -a, -um‘empty, huge’
- Englishdevastate‘to lay waste’
- Englishformed in English from devastatedevastation‘great destruction’ · today
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Formed in English from devastate + -ion.
Dictionary: Skeat (1898), DEVASTATE, p.164 · scan
Roots
- vastus, -a, -um Latin “empty, huge”
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