ravage synonyms

ravage

v.

pillage, overrun, devastate, destroy, despoil, lay waste, plunder, sack, desolate, wreck, waste, disrupt, disorganize, demolish, annihilate, overthrow, overwhelm, break up, pull down, smash, shatter, scatter, batter down, exterminate, extinguish, prostrate, trample, trample down, dismantle, stamp out, lay in ruins, sweep away, raze, ruin, strip, impair, damage, consume, spoil, harry, ransack, maraud, wrest, prey, forage, crush, foray, violate, rape, rob, raid, pirate, seize, spoliate, capture, gut, loot; see also damage 1.

Antonyms build, improve*, rehabilitate.

ravage implies violent destruction, usually in a series of depredations or over an extended period of time, as by an army, plague, or natural disaster; devastate stresses the total ruin and desolation resulting from ravaging; plunder refers to the forcible taking of loot by an invading or conquering army; sack and pillage both specifically suggest violent destruction and plunder by an invading or conquering army, sack implying the total stripping of all valuables in a city or town; despoil also implies the stripping of valuables but is typically used with reference to buildings, institutions, regions, etc.

Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.