different between ravage vs despoil

English

Etymology

From French ravage (“ravage, havoc, spoil”), from ravir (“to bear away suddenly”), from Latin rapere (“to snatch, seize”), akin to Ancient Greek ?????? (harpáz?, “to seize”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??æv?d?/

Verb

ravage (third-person singular simple present ravages, present participle ravaging, simple past and past participle ravaged)

1. (transitive) To devastate or destroy something.
2. (transitive) To pillage or sack something, to lay waste to something.
3. (intransitive) To wreak destruction.

Related terms

• rapid

Translations

Noun

ravage (plural ravages)

1. Grievous damage or havoc.
2. Depredation or devastation

   the ravage of a lion; the ravages of fire or tempest; the ravages of an army, or of time

Translations

Further reading

• ravage in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• ravage in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French ravage (“ravage, havoc, spoil”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ra??va?.??/
• Hyphenation: ra?va?ge
• Rhymes: -a???

Noun

ravage f (plural ravages)

1. havoc, damage

Anagrams

• gevaar

French

Etymology

From ravine (“rush of water”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a.va?/

Noun

ravage m (plural ravages)

1. singular of ravages
2. (archaic) The act of laying waste.

Verb

ravage

1. first-person singular present indicative of ravager
2. third-person singular present indicative of ravager
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of ravager
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of ravager
5. second-person singular imperative of ravager

Further reading

• “ravage” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• gavera

English

Etymology

From Middle English despoylen, dispoylen, from Old French despoillier ( > French dépouiller), from Latin d?spoli?, d?spoli?re.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??sp??l/
• Rhymes: -??l

Verb

despoil (third-person singular simple present despoils, present participle despoiling, simple past and past participle despoiled)

1. (transitive) To plunder; to pillage; take spoil from.
   • 1849, Thomas Macaulay, History of England, Chapter 20:

     a law which restored to them an immense domain of which they had been despoiled

   • 1859, George Meredith, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, Chapter 5:

     Ripton was familiar with the rod, a monster much despoiled of his terrors by intimacy.

   • 2010, The Economist, 17 July, p.53:

     To dreamers in the West, Tibet is a Shangri-La despoiled by Chinese ruthlessness and rapacity.

2. (transitive) To violently strip (someone), with indirect object of their possessions etc.; to rob.
   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 9, 410-11:

     To intercept thy way, or send thee back / Despoiled of innocence, of faith, of bliss.

   • 1849, Thomas Macaulay, History of England, Chapter 20:

     A law which restored to them an immense domain of which they had been despoiled.

3. (obsolete, transitive or reflexive) To strip (someone) of their clothes; to undress.

Related terms

• despoiler
• despoilment
• despoliation
• spoliate
• spoliation

Translations

Noun

despoil (plural despoils)

1. (obsolete) Plunder; spoliation.

References

• despoil in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• despoil in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• diploes, diploës, dipoles, elopids, peloids, soliped, spoiled