ravage

[rav-ij]

verb (used with object)

ravaged, ravaging 

1. to work havoc upon; damage or mar by ruinous or destructive action.

   a face ravaged by grief.

   Synonyms: sack, pillage, plunder, despoil, ruin
   Antonyms: repair, build

verb (used without object)

ravaged, ravaging 

1. to work havoc; do ruinous damage.

noun

1. havoc; ruinous damage.

   the ravages of war.

2. devastating or destructive action.

   Synonyms: desolation, waste, ruin
   Antonyms: creation

ravage

/ ˈrævɪdʒ /

verb

1. to cause extensive damage to

noun

1. (often plural) destructive action

   the ravages of time

Other Word Forms

• ravagement noun
• ravager noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of ravage¹

First recorded in 1605–15; from French, Middle French, equivalent to rav(ir) “to snatch away, ravish” + -age -age ( def. ); ravish

Word History and Origins

Origin of ravage¹

C17: from French, from Old French ravir to snatch away, _ravish

Synonym Study

Ravage, devastate, lay waste all refer, in their literal application, to the wholesale destruction of a countryside by an invading army (or something comparable). Lay waste has remained the closest to the original meaning of destruction of land: The invading army laid waste the towns along the coast. But ravage and devastate are used in reference to other types of violent destruction and may also have a purely figurative application. Ravage is often used of the results of epidemics: The Black Plague ravaged 14th-century Europe; and even of the effect of disease or suffering on the human countenance: a face ravaged by despair. Devastate, in addition to its concrete meaning ( vast areas devastated by bombs ), may be used figuratively: a devastating remark.

Example Sentences

Athens beat Sparta at sea, Sparta ravaged Athenian land; then each was forced to fight on the other’s turf.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

As people worldwide watched wildfires ravage neighborhoods around Los Angeles County in January, some found comfort in the story of Weinraub’s little engine that could.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

But it’s a lot harder to be afraid of a man when the ravages of age catch up with him.

Read more on Salon

Countries once regularly ravaged by famine, such as Russia, China and India, are no longer plagued as they had been.

Read more on Salon

More than half of Sudan's population is in need of humanitarian aid, the head of the Danish Refugee Council told AFP, as fighting ravages the northeast African nation.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• consume 
• damage 
• demolish 
• devastate 
• disrupt 
• gut 
• impair 
• overrun 
• overwhelm 
• pillage 
• plunder 
• raze 
• ruin 
• shatter 
• sweep away www.thesaurus.com
• wreck