But in the long run, the loss of leadership and spiritual vitality proved more devastating.

The company is suffering from "a credibility crisis which could prove devastating," it said.

In a serious recession, such investments could prove devastating.

If the results are modest, the political backlash could prove devastating.

The changes in the economic world that proved so devastating to Mexico's strategy came from a multitude of sources, at home and abroad.

Such expansion would prove devastating and could cause this species to become extinct.

Initially profitable, the losses in that division were ultimately to prove devastating.

But in the long term it could prove devastating.

The policies of the Soviet administration in the occupied territories soon proved devastating.

The 1906 fire proved so devastating because the quake destroyed the city's water system.