overwhelm vs devastate

overwhelm and devastate both are verbs.

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

As verbs, devastate is a hyponym of overwhelm; that is, devastate is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than overwhelm:

Other hyponyms of overwhelm include clutch, get hold of, seize, kill, benight, knock out, stagger, lock.

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