Nearby Words

ravaged

[rav-ij] Example Sentences Origin

rav·age

[rav-ij] verb, -aged, -ag·ing, noun
verb (used with object)
1.
to work havoc upon; damage or mar by ravages: a face ravaged by grief.
verb (used without object)
2.
to work havoc; do ruinous damage.

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Ravaged is always a great word to know.
So is bezoar. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
noun
3.
havoc; ruinous damage: the ravages of war.
4.
devastating or destructive action.

Origin:
1605–15; < French, Middle French, equivalent to rav(ir) to ravish + -age -age

rav·age·ment, noun
rav·ag·er, noun
un·rav·aged, adjective

1. ravage, ravish (see synonym note at the current entry); 2. ravenous, ravaging, ravishing (see synonym note at ravenous).


1. ruin, despoil, plunder, pillage, sack. 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. 4. ruin, waste, desolation.


1. build, repair. 4. creation.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To ravaged
Example Sentences
  • Lined and ravaged as it is, the face is ageless: as sunken as a dead man's, as softly bewildered as a child's.
  • Plague and countless other illnesses ravaged every community.
  • Survivors may be physically and mentally stunted, and ravaged by sores.
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

ravage
1611, from Fr. ravager "lay waste, devastate," from O.Fr. ravage "destruction," especially by flood, 14c., from ravir "to take away hastily" (see ravish).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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