ravage
/ˈravɪdʒ
/verb [with object]
Cause severe and extensive damage to: the hurricane ravaged southern Florida...
- Two kings lost their thrones and the country was periodically ravaged by civil war.
- Once regarded as the economic miracle of West Africa, his country is ravaged by civil war.
- In those days, Europe was periodically ravaged by plagues.
Synonyms
lay waste, devastate, ruin, leave in ruins, destroy, wreak havoc on, leave desolate, level, raze, demolish, wipe out, wreck, damage;
pillage, plunder, harry, maraud, ransack, sack, loot
literary despoil, rape
archaic spoil, havoc
rare depredate, spoliate
devastated, ruined, wrecked, desolate;
war-torn, battle-scarred
noun (ravages)
1The destructive effects of something: his face had withstood the ravages of time...
- No more than a shell, it sits almost apologetically, ruined by the ravages of time.
- Did it all just fall apart, ruined by the ravages of time and neglect?
- It's even less fair to airbrush a 60-year-old celebrity and present her as someone who's managed to avoid the ravages of time.
Synonyms
damaging effects, ill effects, scars
1.1Acts of destruction: the ravages committed by man...
- Countless multitudes suffer the ravages of war in Somalia.
- While Sitka spruce can withstand the ravages inflicted by deer, other species are not so hardy.
- Few expected the ravages of war, and none expected the deprivation of imprisonment.
Synonyms
acts of destruction, destruction, damage, devastation, ruin, havoc, depredation(s), wreckage
literary rape
Derivatives
ravager
- On my way to see the Viking ships in Oslo, the guide emphasised that the Vikings were not the ravagers and looters of myth but influential adventurers who created elegant artefacts.
- Let not this age be remembered by those who will come after us as an age where killers of the innocent and ravagers of the weak reigned terror upon the world.
- I should just come home and help clean up the damage done by the ravagers.
Origin
Early 17th century: from French ravager, from earlier ravage, alteration of ravine 'rush of water'.