ravaged

Meanings

1. 1adjectivecomparable

   Badly damaged or ruined, usually by a disaster, war or sickness.

   Grammar: Can appear before a noun or after be: a ravaged village, the town was ravaged.

   Patterns

   • ravaged by something
   • a ravaged landscape

   The ravaged forest took decades to grow back.

   The country was ravaged by civil war.

   Aid workers entered the ravaged region.

2. 2adjectivecomparableliterary

   Looking worn, hollow and aged, as from long illness or hardship.

   Grammar: Often describes a face or body: a ravaged face.

   Patterns

   • a ravaged face
   • ravaged by illness

   His ravaged face told the story of years at sea.

   She was ravaged by illness but kept smiling.

   The ravaged old soldier sat quietly by the fire.

Word forms

Common combinations

ravaged by war

The city was ravaged by war.

ravaged by disease

The village was ravaged by disease.

ravaged landscape

A ravaged landscape stretched from the river to the hills.

ravaged economy

The ravaged economy needed years to recover.

ravaged by fire

The mountainside was ravaged by fire.

Synonyms and how they differ

devastated

Devastated describes complete destruction and also strong emotional shock, which ravaged does less often.

ruined

Ruined is the broad, everyday word, while ravaged implies violent or widespread harm over time.

wrecked

Wrecked is informal and can mean exhausted, but ravaged is more formal and stresses large-scale damage.

scarred

Scarred suggests lasting marks, while ravaged stresses the damage itself.

Opposites

Word family

ravage verb

to damage badly

ravages noun

destructive effects, as in the ravages of time

ravaging adjective

causing great destruction

ravager noun

someone or something that destroys

Commonly confused: ravaged or ravished? ravaged or ravenous?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “ravaged”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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