1. The state, or condition, of being decayed or destroyed: The government officials viewed the devastation of the city from the helicopter as it circled around the area.
2. The feeling of being confounded or overwhelmed: Hank's sudden departure left his family in utter devastation.
3. An event that results in total destruction: It took years for the city to recover from the devastation caused by the hurricane.
4. Plundering with excessive damage and destruction; ravaging: The crowds that gathered as a result of the shooting of a youth got out of control and caused extensive devastations in the city.
5. The ruination, wrecking, obliteration of something to the degree that it cannot be fixed and so it no longer exists: The train wreck and subsequent explosion caused great devastation in the community.