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

• ravager noun
• ravagement 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

One gradually destroys memory and cognition, while the other ravages the body through uncontrolled cell growth.

Read more on Science Daily

Bess said a number of residents continue to live in homes ravaged by the tornado, some of which are contaminated with mold.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The guns will fall silent in Gaza, more aid will flow into the ravaged enclave, and Palestinians won't live each day fearing it could be their last.

Read more on BBC

Baltimore’s offense is in disarray and its defense is ravaged by injuries.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Muhammad Ali, “The Greatest,” was ravaged by the disease that doctors theorized was the result of blows to the head, many from Frazier.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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