ravage

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

v. t. lay waste, pillage, plunder, sack, devastate. See destruction.

II

(Roget's IV) v.

Syn. 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 .

Ant. build, improve*, rehabilitate.

Syn.- 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.

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) v.

destroy, ruin, devastate, wreck, demolish, lay waste, plunder, pillage, ransack, despoil.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) verb 1. To destroy completely as or as if by conquering: desolate, devastate, waste. Idiom: lay waste. See HELP. 2. To rob of goods by force, especially in time of war: depredate, despoil, havoc, loot, pillage, plunder, ransack, rape, sack2, spoliate, strip1. Archaic: harrow, spoil. See CRIMES, GIVE.