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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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Ravages
is always a great word to know.
So is callithumpian. Does it mean:
| a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes. |
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
noun
3.
havoc; ruinous damage: the ravages of war.
4.
devastating or destructive action.
Related forms
rav·age·ment, noun
rav·ag·er, noun
un·rav·aged, adjective
Can be confused: 1. ravage, ravish (see synonym note at the current entry); 2. ravenous, ravaging, ravishing (see synonym note at ravenous).
Synonyms
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. 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.
Antonyms
1. build, repair. 4. creation.
1. build, repair. 4. creation.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
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Link To ravages
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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