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Devastate vs Destructive - What's the difference?

devastate | destructive |

As a verb devastate

is 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.

As an adjective destructive is

causing destruction; damaging.

devastate

English

Verb

(devastat)
  • 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.
  • To destroy a whole collection of related ideas, beliefs, and strongly held opinions.
  • 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.
  • destructive

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Causing destruction; damaging.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2013 , date=February 14 , author=Scott Tobias , title=Film: Reviews: A Good Day To Die Hard , work=The Onion AV Club citation , page= , passage=After rescuing his estranged daughter in the last film, Live Free Or Die Hard, Willis heads to Russia to rescue his estranged son (Jai Courtney), a CIA agent on a mission to protect a whistleblower (Sebastian Koch) from a corrupt government official (Sergei Kolesnikov) with no shortage of destructive resources at his disposal.}}
  • Causing breakdown or disassembly.
  • Catabolism is a destructive metabolism which involves the break down of molecules and release of energy.

    Synonyms

    * calamitous * catastrophic * devastating * disastrous * eradicative * harmful * pernicious * ruinous * wrackful * wreckful

    Antonyms

    * constructive * nondestructive * productive