What's the difference between destroy and devastate?

Destroy


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To unbuild; to pull or tear down; to separate virulently into its constituent parts; to break up the structure and organic existence of; to demolish.
  • (v. t.) To ruin; to bring to naught; to put an end to; to annihilate; to consume.
  • (v. t.) To put an end to the existence, prosperity, or beauty of; to kill.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The measure destroyed the Justice Department’s plans to prosecute whatever Guantánamo detainees it could in federal courts.
  • (2) Whereas the growth and division of normal cells is carefully regulated to meet the needs of the body, tumor cells proliferate autonomously and continually, eventually interfering with and destroying the functions of normal tissue.
  • (3) More evil than Clocky , the alarm clock that rolls away when you reach out to silence it, or the Puzzle Alarm , which makes you complete a simple puzzle before it'll go quiet, the Money Shredding Alarm Clock methodically destroys your cash unless you rouse yourself.
  • (4) Total costs of building the three missile destroyers in Australia will amount to more than $9bn, approximately three times the cost of buying the ships ready made from Spanish company Navantia, The Australian reported on Friday .
  • (5) When allegations of systemic doping and cover-ups first emerged in the runup to the 2013 Russian world athletics championships, an IOC spokesman insisted: “Anti-doping measures in Russia have improved significantly over the last five years with an effective, efficient and new laboratory and equipment in Moscow.” London Olympics were sabotaged by Russia’s doping, report says Read more We now know that the head of that lauded Moscow lab, Grigory Rodchenko, admitted to intentionally destroying 1,417 samples in December last year shortly before Wada officials visited.
  • (6) Mortality rates naturally vary considerably, but in earthquakes, for example, the number of deaths per 100 houses destroyed can give an indication of the adequacy of building techniques.
  • (7) Dialyzed crude enzyme extracts from yeast cells were found to destroy diacetyl in a manner quite similar to that of diacetyl reductase from Aerobacter aerogenes, and both the bacterial and the yeast extracts were stimulated significantly by the addition of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH).
  • (8) Macron hit back on Twitter, saying her proposals to take France out of the EU would destroy France’s fishing industry.
  • (9) Part of his initial lump sum will be donated to a fund to replace a hall destroyed by fire in an arson attack four years ago at St Luke’s Church in Newton Poppleford.
  • (10) We report that kainic acid lesions of the posterior corpus striatum, which preferentially spare fibers of passage while destroying striatopallidal neurons, produce a stimulus-sensitive movement pattern in rats that has a highly specific sensory trigger.
  • (11) Spinal cord stimulation would suppress at least the dorsal horn neurons which were destroyed by various kinds of diseases.
  • (12) To overcome these problems we developed methotrexate bone cement (MTX-Palacos) with the aim to obtain high local concentrations of methotrexate in order to destroy remaining tumor cells and avoid systemic side effects.
  • (13) Liposomes of PC10 rapidly destroyed sperm motility while PC12 acrosome-reacted sperm remained motile for several h. Liposomes of PC with greater than or equal to 14-carbon fatty acyl chains had no effect on the AR or motility of sperm.
  • (14) Admirable, but will destroying ivory get that message through to poachers, ivory traffickers and the workshops in east Asia and elsewhere that buy smuggled raw ivory?
  • (15) Surgery of destroyed joints in the hand and wrist in the arthritic patient can be added to the armamentarium of the reconstructive arthritis surgeon.
  • (16) It is that beautiful moment when the original Metamorphosis is destroyed so that it can be refashioned for a global community of readers in dire need of new forms of storytelling.
  • (17) Alfred Liyolo, 71, one of Congo’s leading sculptors , sold several bronzes to the palace in Gbadolite and designed a church and tomb for Mobutu’s first wife; all were lost or destroyed in the looting.
  • (18) A frameshift mutation in the mouse mammary tumor virus myc gene destroyed the dexamethasone stimulation of mr1, indicating that c-myc protein is required for the effect.
  • (19) While cells that were treated with antibody were unable to aggregate because of the inability to destroy cAMP, they aggregated normally when washed free of antibody.
  • (20) It would have to be destroyed four and a half years after initial collection.

Devastate


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To lay waste; to ravage; to desolate.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It appears that irrespective of the elucidation of the nature of the putative aetiological factor (presumed to be viral) in MS, the arrest and reversal of T cell-related events within the CNS in this devastating condition represent feasible goals and should remain a major target for some time to come.
  • (2) Samaras said: A "Grexit", as it is called, would be devastating for Greece and detrimental to Europe.
  • (3) While winds gusting to 170mph caused significant damage, the devastation in areas such as Tacloban – where scenes are reminiscent of the 2004 Indian ocean tsunami – was principally the work of the 6-metre-high storm surge, which carried away even the concrete buildings in which many people sought shelter.
  • (4) The Financial Services Authority is meant to be the City's watchdog but "devastating" internal documents reveal it has secretly co-ordinated high-level lobbying strategies with the industry it is supposed to police.
  • (5) The government acknowledged it had been overwhelmed by the devastation from the deadliest quake in Nepal in over 80 years.
  • (6) Mark Rasch, a cyber crime expert quoted by the FT, meanwhile said recent events have been “a serious and devastating attack to [Sony’s] reputation and image”, and his opinion is played out by a new YouGov poll into the public perception of Sony’s brand.
  • (7) "When people don't feel they have a reason to stay out of trouble, the consequences for communities can be devastating – as we saw last August," said Darra Singh, chair of the panel.
  • (8) Newcastle United are “devastated” by their relegation from the Premier League, according to the club’s managing director Lee Charnley.
  • (9) In order to reduce the devasting effects of enteric diseases among children born to mothers in tropical countries of Africa and Asia, it is imperative that all health workers understand the cultural and social perceptions of their clients towards the disease in question.
  • (10) All the personality, dignity and humanity of a person are devastated by this torture.
  • (11) Age UK believes McDonald's human rights have been breached and that there could be "extremely adverse and devastating consequences for many thousands of older people if other councils take similar decisions to save money".
  • (12) And then, as the Guardian revealed at the weekend, there is the potentially devastating effect of the boundary changes, which can’t really be brought in before an early election but will radically tilt the field by 2020.
  • (13) He said: "[That] could be devastating for the renewables industry.
  • (14) To say that the loss of BB King is devastating to the blues community is an understatement.
  • (15) 'Devastated' Peter Greste calls on Egypt's president to pardon trio Read more “It’s ironic that the conviction was for tarnishing Egypt’s reputation when ... this [case] is what’s tarnished Egypt’s image,” Clooney told BBC News.
  • (16) The report, extracts of which were published by the investigative news website Exaro , is said to include “devastating detail” of the corporation’s “sheer scale of awareness” of the late star’s activities.
  • (17) Although anterior and posterior traumatic displacement of cervical vertebrae are commonly noted, and the devastating neurological deficits associated with these injuries have been amply defined, lateral displacement with fractures has been rarely recognized, and the clinical significance of this injury has been overlooked.
  • (18) Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Met commissioner, said a report revealing the undercover officers had spied on the family of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence was “devastating” for Scotland Yard and “one of the worst days that I have seen as a police officer”.
  • (19) The case for halting British arms sales to Saudi Arabia has been evident, not only on moral grounds, since civilians started dying in the conflict devastating Yemen.
  • (20) Devastating neurologic complications can be avoided or alleviated in a great proportion of patients undergoing radiation therapy for cerebral metastases and spinal cord compression.