devastate vs overwhelm

devastate and overwhelm both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
devastate	No	No	Yes	No
overwhelm	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, overwhelm is a hypernym of devastate; that is, overwhelm is a word with a broader meaning than devastate:

Other hypernyms of devastate include overcome, overpower, overtake, sweep over, whelm.

devastate (verb)	overwhelm (verb)
cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly	charge someone with too many tasks
overwhelm or overpower	overcome by superior force
	cover completely or make imperceptible
	overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli