Meaning & use
ravage
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Meaning
verbtransitive
To damage or destroy something very badly over a wide area, especially through violence, disease, or natural forces.
Grammar: Takes an object: ravage a city, ravage the land. Often used in the passive with by: was ravaged by war.
Patterns
- ravage something
- be ravaged by something
The storm ravaged the coastal towns, leaving hundreds homeless.
For years, the disease ravaged the population, especially the young.
The invaders ravaged the countryside, burning farms and villages.
Word forms
| third person singular | ravages |
|---|---|
| past tense | ravaged |
| past participle | ravaged |
| -ing form | ravaging |
Common combinations
- ravage the land
- The long drought ravaged the land, turning fields to dust.
- be ravaged by fire
- The forest was ravaged by fire last summer.
- ravage a country
- The war ravaged the country for over a decade.
- ravages of time
- The old house showed the ravages of time.
Synonyms and how they differ
- devastate
- Devastate is similar but often suggests a more sudden, complete destruction, while ravage emphasizes widespread, ongoing damage.
- destroy
- Destroy is more general and can apply to a single object; ravage is used for large areas or groups over time.
- plunder
- Plunder means to steal goods violently, often during war; ravage focuses on the damage itself, not the theft.
Opposites
Word family
- ravages noun
- The damaging effects of something over time, as in 'the ravages of war'.
Commonly confused: ravage or ravish?
ravage vs ravish
Ravish is an old-fashioned word meaning to seize and carry off by force, or to rape; it is not a synonym for ravage.
Practice
The hurricane ______ the small island, destroying nearly every building.
Choose one answer.
The past tense 'ravaged' is needed because the action is finished. 'Ravaging' would need a helping verb like 'was', and 'ravages' is present tense, which doesn't fit the past time of the sentence.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ravage”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.