Havoc meaning

hăv'ək
Havoc is defined as a lot of destruction or chaos.

An example of havoc is the damage from a hurricane.

noun
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Widespread destruction; devastation.
noun
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Disorder or chaos.

A wild party that created havoc in the house.

noun
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To destroy or pillage.
verb
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Great destruction and devastation, as that resulting from hurricanes, wars, etc.
noun
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To lay waste; devastate.
verb
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  • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The People that Time Forgot, edition HTML, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008.
    But when I had come to that part of the city which I judged to have contained the relics I sought I found havoc that had been wrought there even greater than elsewhere.
noun
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noun
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verb
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To cause havoc.
verb
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A cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.
interjection
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Origin of havoc

From Anglo-Norman havok in the phrase crier havok (“cry havoc”) a signal to soldiers to seize plunder, from Old French crier (“cry out, shout”) + havot (“pillaging, looting”).

Sentence Examples

  • He remained content to leave such criminal havoc in the hands of the police.

  • It sort of wreaks havoc on the balance.

  • On the 16th of March 1889 the heavy tidal waves created havoc in the harbour of Apia.

  • Unrequited love could wreak havoc on a conscience.

  • Alex attacked his food as if it were to blame for the havoc he had created at the table.

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Words near havoc in the Dictionary