ravage

ravage
    n 1: (usually plural) a destructive action; "the ravages of
         time"; "the depredations of age and disease" [syn:
         {ravage}, {depredation}]
    v 1: make a pillaging or destructive raid on (a place), as in
         wartimes [syn: {harry}, {ravage}]
    2: cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly; "The enemy lay
       waste to the countryside after the invasion" [syn: {lay waste
       to}, {waste}, {devastate}, {desolate}, {ravage}, {scourge}]
    

Ravage \Rav"age\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Ravaged}
   (r[a^]v"[asl]jd); p. pr. & vb. n. {Ravaging}
   (r[a^]v"[asl]*j[i^]ng).] [F. ravager. See {Ravage}, n.]
   To lay waste by force; to desolate by violence; to commit
   havoc or devastation upon; to spoil; to plunder; to consume.
   [1913 Webster]

         Already Caesar
         Has ravaged more than half the globe.    --Addison.
   [1913 Webster]

         His lands were daily ravaged, his cattle driven away.
                                                  --Macaulay.
   [1913 Webster]

   Syn: To despoil; pillage; plunder; sack; spoil; devastate;
        desolate; destroy; waste; ruin.
        [1913 Webster]
    

Ravage \Rav"age\ (r[a^]v"[asl]j; 48), n. [F., fr. (assumed) L.
   rapagium, rapaticum, fr. rapere to carry off by force, to
   ravish. See {Rapacious}, {Ravish}.]
   Desolation by violence; violent ruin or destruction;
   devastation; havoc; waste; as, the ravage of a lion; the
   ravages of fire or tempest; the ravages of an army, or of
   time.
   [1913 Webster]

         Would one think 't were possible for love
         To make such ravage in a noble soul?     --Addison.
   [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Despoilment; devastation; desolation; pillage; plunder;
        spoil; waste; ruin.
        [1913 Webster]
    

192 Moby Thesaurus words for "ravage":
      abuse, adulterate, alloy, banditry, beset, betray, betrayal,
      bloodbath, blue ruin, breakup, brigandage, brigandism,
      bring to ruin, canker, carnage, cheapen, coarsen, condemn,
      confound, consume, consumption, contaminate, corrupt, crawl with,
      creep with, criminal assault, crush, damage, damn, damnation,
      deal destruction, debase, debauch, debauchment, deceive, decimate,
      decimation, defile, defilement, defloration, deflower, deflowering,
      degenerate, degrade, demolish, demolition, denature, deprave,
      depredate, depredation, desecrate, desolate, desolation, despoil,
      despoiling, despoilment, despoliation, destroy, destruction,
      devalue, devastate, devastation, devour, direption, disintegration,
      disorganization, disruption, dissolution, dissolve, distort,
      encroach, engorge, fleece, forage, foraging, foray, force,
      freeboot, freebooting, gobble, gobble up, gut, gut with fire,
      harry, havoc, hecatomb, holocaust, incinerate, infect, infest,
      infestation, invade, invasion, lay in ruins, lay waste,
      lead astray, loot, looting, lousiness, maraud, marauding, mislead,
      misuse, overpower, overrun, overrunning, overspread, overspreading,
      overswarm, overswarming, overthrow, overwhelm, perdition, pervert,
      pillage, pillaging, plague, plunder, plundering, poison, pollute,
      prey on, priapism, prostitute, raid, raiding, ransack, ransacking,
      rape, rapine, ravagement, ravages, ravaging, raven, ravish,
      ravishment, raze, razzia, reive, reiving, rifle, rifling, rob,
      ruin, ruinate, ruination, sack, sacking, scourge, seduce,
      seducement, seduction, sexual assault, shambles, shipwreck,
      slaughter, soil, spoil, spoiling, spoliate, spoliation, strip,
      sully, swallow up, swarm, swarm with, swarming, sweep, taint,
      teeming, throw into disorder, trespass, twist, ulcerate, undoing,
      unleash destruction, unleash the hurricane, upheave, vandalism,
      vandalize, vaporize, violate, violation, vitiate, vulgarize, warp,
      waste, wrack, wrack and ruin, wreak havoc, wreck, wrecking