Image by Алесь Усцінаў
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发音：[ˈdevəˌsteɪt]
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例句：
- To devastate means to completely destroy or cause severe damage, leaving nothing useful or worthwhile. It can also refer to causing great emotional pain or sadness.
- The heat dome that formed over British Columbia in 2021 led to devastating floods later in the year, highlighting the added challenges posed by climate change and extreme weather events.
- The recent earthquake that devastated Turkey and Syria brings to mind the parallels between the current situation and what happened in Haiti.
- ChatGPT emphasized that using a racial slur, even in a hypothetical scenario where it could prevent a devastating nuclear bomb, is never morally acceptable.
- A panel of top climate scientists issued a grave warning that current policies are insufficient to prevent the most devastating consequences of climate change.
- According to a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the Iberian Peninsula is currently facing its driest climate in 1,200 years, resulting in devastating impacts on local crops and livestock.
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解释：
- Devastate这个单词做动词使用，其表示“to bring destruction to something through violent action”这一含义，即“摧毁/破坏/毁灭”，与destroy/ravage/demolish这些单词构成近义词。
- 此外，该单词还以用于表达“to make sb feel very shocked and sad”这一含义，即“使震惊/使极为悲痛”，与overwhelm/overpower这些单词构成近义词。
- 具体使用场景如下：
- If investors were to lose billions of dollars in the cryptocurrency market, it could cause a potentially devastating panic that may spill over into non-crypto markets.（如果投资者在加密货币市场上损失数十亿美元，可能会导致潜在的毁灭性恐慌，并可能蔓延到非加密市场。）
–Technology - The rental car company narrowly avoided bankruptcy last year during the pandemic, as an unsustainable amount of debt almost devastated its business.（这家租车公司去年在大流行期间濒临破产边缘，因为不可持续的债务几乎摧毁了其业务。）
–Business - The Lancet paper on the clade IIb strain of mpox reveals that the virus can still cause devastating disease in a particularly vulnerable group of people, covering over one-quarter of all known deaths.（《柳叶刀》关于mpox分支IIb菌株的论文显示，该病毒仍然可以在一个特别脆弱的人群中引起毁灭性的疾病，覆盖了所有已知死亡人数的四分之一以上。）
–Science - Following a devastating run on deposits, Silicon Valley Bank’s former parent company, SVB Financial Group, filed for bankruptcy.（在经历了毁灭性的存款挤兑之后，硅谷银行的前母公司SVB金融集团申请破产。）
–Business - To prevent the devastating effects of plant disease, farmers use a combination of techniques such as crop rotation, using resistant varieties, fungicides, and minimizing irrigation during flowering.（为了防止植物病害的破坏性影响，农民使用多种技术的组合，如轮作、使用抗性品种、杀菌剂和尽量减少开花期间的灌溉。）
–Technolog
