ravage

See also: ravagé

English

Etymology

From French ravage (“ravage, havoc, spoil”), from ravir (“to bear away suddenly”), from Latin rapere (“to snatch, seize”), akin to Ancient Greek ἁρπάζω (harpázō, “to seize”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹævɪd͡ʒ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ævɪd͡ʒ

Verb

ravage (third-person singular simple present ravages, present participle ravaging, simple past and past participle ravaged)

1. (transitive) To devastate, destroy or lay waste to something.
   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1:

     Already Cæſar
     Has ravaged more than half the Globe, and ſees
     Mankind grown thin by his deſtructive Sword:
     Should he go further, Numbers would be wanting
     To form new Battels, and ſupport his Crimes.

   • 1776, Edward Gibbon, chapter XII, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, pages 334–335:

     But the most important service which Probus rendered to the republic was the deliverance of Gaul, and the recovery of seventy flourishing cities oppressed by the barbarians of Germany, who, since the death of Aurelian, had ravaged that great province with impunity.

   • 1937, Josephus, Ralph Marcus, transl., chapter VIII, in Josephus: With an English Translation (Loeb Classical Library), volume VI (Jewish Antiquities), London: William Heinemann Ltd.; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, published 1958, →OCLC, book IX, paragraph 1, page 87:

     Now Azaēlos, the king of Syria, made war on the Israelites and their king Jehu, and ravaged the eastern parts of the country across the Jordan […] spreading fire everywhere and plundering everything and inflicting violence on all who fell into his hands.

2. (transitive) To pillage or plunder destructively; to sack.
3. (intransitive) To wreak destruction.
4. (slang) To have vigorous sexual intercourse with.
5. (slang) To rape.

Related terms

• rapid

Translations

to devastate, destroy or lay waste to something

• Arabic: اِجْتَاحَ (ijtāḥa), خَرَبَ (ḵaraba)
• Azerbaijani: dağıtmaq (az), xaraba qoymaq, viran etmək, yixmaq
• Bulgarian: разрушавам (bg) (razrušavam)
• Czech: pustošit impf, zpustošit pf, zničit (cs) pf
• Danish: ødelægge (da)
• Dutch: verwoesten (nl), teisteren (nl)
• Finnish: tuhota (fi), hävittää (fi)
• French: ravager (fr)
• Galician: estragar (gl)
• German: verwüsten (de), zerstören (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: λυμαίνομαι (lumaínomai)

• Italian: devastare (it), distruggere (it)
• Latin: populor, vastō, dēvastō
• Macedonian: ру́ши (rúši), ра́зруши (rázruši)
• Persian: منهدم کردن (monhadem kardan)
• Polish: dewastować (pl) impf, niszczyć (pl) impf, pustoszyć (pl) impf
• Portuguese: devastar (pt)
• Russian: опустоша́ть (ru) (opustošátʹ)
• Spanish: estragar (es)
• Swedish: härja (sv), ödelägga (sv)
• Turkish: yıkmak (tr), tahrip etmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: спусто́шувати impf (spustóšuvaty), спусто́шити pf (spustóšyty), розоря́ти impf (rozorjáty), розори́ти pf (rozorýty), плюндрува́ти impf (pljundruváty), сплюндрува́ти (uk) pf (spljundruváty), пусто́шити impf (pustóšyty)

to pillage or plunder destructively

• Bulgarian: опустошавам (bg) (opustošavam)
• Czech: vyplenit pf, plenit (cs) impf
• Danish: plyndre
• Latin: populor
• Macedonian: пу́стоши (pústoši)
• Portuguese: saquear (pt)
• Romanian: prăda (ro)
• Turkish: yağmalamak (tr), yakıp yıkmak (tr)

to wreak destruction

• Danish: ødelægge (da)
• Finnish: hävittää (fi)
• Portuguese: arruinar (pt)

Noun

ravage (plural ravages)

1. Grievous damage or havoc.
   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene iii, page 2:

     Would one think 'twere possible for love / To make such ravage in a noble soul!

2. Depredation or devastation.

   the ravages of fire or tempest

   the ravages of an army

   the ravages of time

   the ravage of a lion

   • 1781, Edward Gibbon, chapter XIX, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume II, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 172:

     The villages on either side of the Meyn, which were plentifully stored with corn and cattle, felt the ravages of an invading army.

   • 1835, Charles Lyell, chapter VIII, in Principles of Geology […] , 4th edition, volume III, London: John Murray, Book III, page 114:

     […] and another Swedish naturalist remarks, that so great are the powers of propagation of a single species, even of the smallest insects, that each can commit, when required, more ravages than the elephant.

Translations

grievous damage or havoc

• Bulgarian: разруха (bg) f (razruha)
• Danish: ødelæggelse c
• Finnish: tuho (fi), hävitys (fi)
• Occitan: ravatge m
• Portuguese: estrago (pt)
• Romanian: ravagiu (ro) n
• Spanish: estrago (es) m
• Turkish: hasar (tr), yıkım (tr), tahribat (tr), tahrip (tr)

depredation or devastation

• Bulgarian: опустошение (bg) n (opustošenie)
• Danish: ødelæggelse c
• Finnish: tuho (fi), hävitys (fi)
• German: Verwüstung (de) f
• Italian: devastazione (it)
• Portuguese: devastação (pt) f
• Romanian: ravagiu (ro) n, devastare (ro) f
• Turkish: hasar (tr), tahribat (tr), tahrip (tr), yıkım (tr)

Further reading

• “ravage”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ravage”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French ravage (“ravage, havoc, spoil”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌraːˈvaː.ʒə/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ra‧va‧ge
• Rhymes: -aːʒə

Noun

ravage f (plural ravages)

1. havoc, damage

Anagrams

• gevaar

French

Etymology

From ravine (“rush of water”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁa.vaʒ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

ravage m (plural ravages)

1. singular of ravages
2. (archaic) the act of laying waste

Verb

ravage

1. inflection of ravager:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “ravage”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• gavera