ravage
/'rævidʤ/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Verb:
- To cause severe and extensive damage or destruction to something, often violently or over time.
- To plunder, loot, or pillage a place, especially during a war or conflict.
Noun (usually plural: ravages):
- The destructive effects or severe damage caused by something, such as time, war, or disease.
Usage
- Verb: Used to describe the action of devastating or ruining something completely.
- Noun (plural): Used to describe the visible, often lasting, results of destructive forces.
Examples
- Verb:
- The hurricane ravaged the coastal town, leaving thousands homeless.
- Invasive insects have ravaged the forest, killing many of the trees.
- Noun (plural):
- The old building showed the ravages of time, with its crumbling walls and broken windows.
- Despite the ravages of the long war, the people's spirit remained strong.
Advanced Usage
- "to be ravaged by": To be severely damaged or devastated by a specific agent (e.g., war, famine, grief).
- The region was ravaged by years of drought and conflict.
- "the ravages of [something]": A common phrase highlighting the destructive impact of a particular force.
- She used expensive creams to combat the ravages of age.
Variants and Related Words
- Ravager (noun): An agent or force that causes ravage.
- The locust swarm was a relentless ravager of the crops.
- Ravaging (adjective/noun): Describing the act or process of causing ravage.
- The ravaging storm moved up the coast.
Synonyms
- Verb: Devastate, destroy, wreck, ruin, lay waste, pillage, sack.
- Noun (ravages): Devastation, destruction, damage, depredation.
Related Phrases
- Lay waste to: A phrasal verb synonymous with 'ravage' as a verb.
- The army laid waste to the villages in its path.
Noun
- (usually plural) a destructive action
- the ravages of time
- the depredations of age and disease
Verb
- cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly
- The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion
- make a pillaging or destructive raid on (a place), as in wartimes