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Showing results for lay waste. Search instead for lay wait.
Synonyms

lay waste

Idioms  
  1. Ravage, ruin, as in The hurricane laid waste the entire seashore. Originally referring to the devastation caused by attackers, this term has come to be used more generally.


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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My life without it is a swirl of forces, leading to natural disasters of impulsivity that often lay waste most acutely in my bank account.

From Salon Nov. 29, 2024

All that can contaminate water and soil, not to mention lay waste to large tracts of land.

From Science Magazine Nov. 1, 2022

In the ultra-competitive social-media field, cutbacks can give competitors a lane to lay waste to your business.

From Slate Jul. 22, 2022

At the end of Reeves’ film, Paul Dano’s Riddler, his vengeful plot to lay waste to Gotham foiled, or at least mitigated, by Batman, is incarcerated in Arkham Asylum.

From Los Angeles Times Mar. 4, 2022

There was no kindness, no gentleness to this departure; nothing human, but rather a degeneration into some demonic substratum of the body that had waited to lay waste to all the lineaments of grace.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson

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