- to cause extensive damage (to)
- (often plural) destructive action: the ravages of time
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
rav•age /ˈrævɪdʒ/USA pronunciation
v., -aged, -ag•ing, n.
v. [~ + object]
n. ravages, [plural]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026v. [~ + object]
- to damage or injure severely:The storm ravaged the coastline.
n. ravages, [plural]
- great damage, destruction, or ruin:the ravages of war.
rav•age
(rav′ij),USA pronunciation v., -aged, -ag•ing, n.
v.t.
v.i.
n.
rav′age•ment, n.
rav′ag•er, n.
v.t.
- to work havoc upon;
damage or mar by ravages:a face ravaged by grief.
v.i.
- to work havoc;
do ruinous damage.
n.
- havoc;
ruinous damage:the ravages of war. - devastating or destructive action.
- French, Middle French, equivalent. to rav(ir) to ravish + -age -age
- 1605–15
rav′ag•er, n.
- 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. build, repair. 4. creation.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
ravage /ˈrævɪdʒ/ vb
'ravaged' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):