different between lay_waste vs devastate

English

Verb

lay waste (third-person singular simple present lays waste, present participle laying waste, simple past and past participle laid waste)

1. (transitive) To completely destroy, especially of a geographical area or region.
   • 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society 2010, p. 16:

     Thirsting for revenge, his troops stormed the fortress of Kazan on the upper Volga in 1553, slaughtering the defenders just as the Mongols had done when they laid waste Russia's great cities.

Usage notes

Sometimes takes "to" instead of being simply transitive. Thus, "...they laid waste to Russia's great cities" would be an acceptable alternative to the quote above.

Translations

Verb

lay waste

1. simple past tense of lie waste

English

Etymology

From Latin d?vast?tus, perfect passive participle of d?vast?, from d?- (augmentative prefix) + vast? (“I destroy, I lay waste to”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?v?ste?t/

Verb

devastate (third-person singular simple present devastates, present participle devastating, simple past and past participle devastated)

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

Synonyms

• (to lay waste) decimate (sometimes proscribed); destroy; raze (to structures); ruin

Derived terms

• devastated (adjective)

Related terms

• devastation
• devastavit

Translations

Further reading

• devastate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• devastate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• devastate at OneLook Dictionary Search

Ido

Verb

devastate

1. adverbial present passive participle of devastar

Italian

Verb

devastate

1. inflection of devastare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative
2. feminine plural of devastato

Anagrams

• destavate, detestava

Latin

Verb

d?v?st?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of d?v?st?