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ravage

[rav-ij]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ravage ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), rav·aged, rav·ag·ing.

to work havoc upon; damage or mar by ravages: a face ravaged by grief.

verb (used without object), rav·aged, rav·ag·ing.

to work havoc; do ruinous damage.

noun

havoc; ruinous damage: the ravages of war.
devastating or destructive action.

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RELATED WORDS

demolish, devastate, consume, wreck, overwhelm, raze, ruin, shatter, damage, impair, plunder, pillage, gut, disrupt, overrun, desolate, forage, exterminate, wrest, rob

Nearby words

  1. rauschenberg, robert,
  2. rauschenbusch,
  3. rauschenbusch, walter,
  4. rauwolfia,
  5. rav,
  6. ravages,
  7. ravana,
  8. ravc,
  9. rave,
  10. rave hook

Origin of ravage

1605–15; < French, Middle French, equivalent to rav(ir) to ravish + -age -age
Related formsrav·age·ment, nounrav·ag·er, nounun·rav·aged, adjective
Can be confusedravage ravishravenous ravaging ravishing (see synonym study at ravenous)

Synonyms for ravage

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ravage ON THESAURUS.COM
1. ruin, despoil, plunder, pillage, sack. 4. ruin, waste, desolation.

Synonym study

1. 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.

Antonyms for ravage

1. build, repair. 4. creation.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ravaged

British Dictionary definitions for ravaged

ravage

verb

to cause extensive damage to

noun

(often plural) destructive actionthe ravages of time
Derived Formsravagement, nounravager, noun

Word Origin for ravage

C17: from French, from Old French ravir to snatch away, ravish
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for ravaged

ravage

v.

1610s, from French ravager "lay waste, devastate," from Old French ravage "destruction," especially by flood (14c.), from ravir "to take away hastily" (see ravish). Related: Ravaged; ravaging.

ravage

n.

1610s, from French ravage "destruction" (see ravage (v.)). Related: Ravages.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper