ravaging

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rav·age

 (răv′ĭj)
v. rav·aged, rav·ag·ing, rav·ages
v.tr.
1. To bring heavy destruction on; devastate: A tornado ravaged the town.
2. To pillage; sack: Enemy soldiers ravaged the village.
v.intr.
To wreak destruction.
n.
1. The act or practice of pillaging or destroying: the marauders' ravage of the village.
2.
a. Destruction, damage, or harm: The storm resulted in the ravage of the countryside.
b. ravages Destructive or harmful effects: the ravages of disease.

[French ravager, from Old French, to uproot, from ravir, to ravish; see ravish.]

rav′ag·er n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.ravaging - plundering with excessive damage and destructionravaging - plundering with excessive damage and destruction
pillaging, plundering, pillage - the act of stealing valuable things from a place; "the plundering of the Parthenon"; "his plundering of the great authors"
Adj.1.ravaging - ruinously destructive and wasting; "a ravaging illness"
destructive - causing destruction or much damage; "a policy that is destructive to the economy"; "destructive criticism"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in periodicals archive ?
"As ravagingly as Surrendered portrays the deaths, often under torture, of countless war victims--many of them victors only in name--Lee also times its sequences to a single, slow, highly particularized dying.
A body that had undergone some ravagingly fearsome battles because of his all-action and full committed style where he was content not to take a step backwards and stand and trade blows, needed a break that he wasn't prepared to give it.