noun
definition
Grievous damage or havoc.
definition
Depredation or devastation
example
the ravage of a lion; the ravages of fire or tempest; the ravages of an army, or of time
verb
definition
To devastate or destroy something.
definition
To pillage or sack something, to lay waste to something.
definition
To wreak destruction.
noun
definition
Harsh damage.
example
The ravages of war decimated the country: death, destruction and pestilence resulted from the bombings.
Examples of ravages in a Sentence
The reconstructive work necessary after the ravages of the war was enormous.
The public works suffer from the ravages of white ants.
Standing on cliffs of considerable elevation, the town has repeatedly suffered from ravages of the sea.
Forest trees also suffer from their ravages, especially the conifers (Lophyrus pini).
The core is served with a thick coating of wet jute, yarn or hemp (h), forming a soft bed for the sheath, and, to secure immunity from the ravages of submarine boring animals, e.g.
Hundreds of acres of wheat are lost annually in America by the ravages of the Hessian fly; the fruit flies of Australia and South Africa cause much loss to orange and citron growers, often making it necessary to cover the trees in muslin tents for protection.
His influence, however, extended from the Limpopo to the borders of Cape Colony, and through the ravages of Swangendaba and Mosilikatze the terror of the Zulu arms was carried far and wide into the interior of the continent.
Even older cars are usually free of rattles and creaks, and paintwork and interiors resist the ravages of time.
Sadly the bodywork is suffering the ravages of exposure to the worst of British weather.
This Revised or Later Version is in every way a readable, correct rendering of the Scriptures, it is far more idiomatic than the Earlier, having been freed from the greater number of its Latinisms; its vocabulary is less archaic. Its popularity admits of no doubt, for even now in spite of neglect and persecution, in spite of the ravages of fire and time, over 150 copies remain to testify to this fact.
Animals suffer from the ravages of bot flies (Oestridae) and gad flies (Tabanidae); while the tsetse disease is due to the tsetse fly (Glossina morsitans), carrying the protozoa that cause the disease from one horse to another.
The remarkable sanitary work begun during the American occupation and continued by the republic of Cuba, has shown that the ravages of this and other diseases can be greatly diminished.
Hitherto the French had been operating in a rich country, untouched for half a century past by the ravages of war, but as the necessity for a campaign against the Russians confronted the emperor, he realized that his whole supply and transport service must be put on a different footing.
In 1808 the whole building was exposed to the ravages of the French soldiers under General La Houssaye.
It suffered much from the ravages of the Thirty Years' War, but the episcopal castle, then destroyed, was subsequently rebuilt, and in 1852 was converted by Louis Napoleon into a place of residence for widows of knights of the Legion of Honour.
The answer begins with a promise of deliverance from famine, and of fruitful seasons compensating for the ravages of the locusts.
The farmers soon began to recover from their losses, but in1908-1909another serious loss of stock resulted from the ravages of East Coast fever.
Locusts are very numerous in the interior, and commit great ravages.
The ill-feeling, influenced by the ravages of members of the order in Poland, culminated in a struggle which began in December 1519.
Some small Italian houses still remained unscathed by the ravages of war.
Severe as were the losses in flocks and herds from these imported diseases, they were eclipsed by the ravages of the mysterious potato blight, which, first appearing in 1845, pervaded the whole of Europe, and in Ireland especially proved the precursor of famine and pestilence.
When, after the introduction of cattle plague or rinderpest in 1865, the proposal was made to resort to the extreme remedy of slaughter in order to check the ravages of a disease which was pursuing its course with ruinous results, the idea was received with public indignation and denounced as barbarous.
After the destruction of Old Winchelsea, New Winchelsea, a walled town, flourished for about a hundred years and provided a large proportion of the ships furnished by the Cinque Ports to the crown; but the ravages of the French destroyed it, its walls were broken down, and the decay of the harbour, owing to the recession of the sea, prevented any later return of its prosperity.
The Danes were to desist from their ravages, but were allowed to stay in England.
For six years (672-677) the Arabs under the caliph Moawiya (see CALIPHATE) besieged Constantinople, but the ravages caused amongst them by the so-called "Greek fire," heavy losses by land and sea, and the inroads of the Christian Mardaites (or Maronites, q.v.) of Mount Lebanon, obliged Moawiya to make peace and agree to pay tribute for thirty years.
This wind has been a constant menace to shipping at anchor; the new breakwater on the Monarch Shoal was designed to resist its ravages.
One is to kill the phylloxera itself; another, to destroy it along with the infected vines, and plant fresh and healthy plants; the third, to adapt the secular therapeutics of nature, and to introduce American vines which a long acquaintance with the phylloxera has made immune of its ravages.
Joan also points out how the ravages of war have affected how we see Sydenham today.
They want to be protected from the ravages of inflation.
Sevan laments, as we do, the ravages of modern tourism.
Through Christ we can begin to overcome the ravages of sin.
Every practical consideration has been taken into account to ensure that your Sandstorm bag will endure the ravages of time.
He also ensured that these fine carvings were saved from the ravages of termite attack.
This is to help protect the remaining areas of forest from the ravages of industry and deforestation.
Amino acids - Replenishing the amino acids that are flushed from the system helps to repair the ravages of a hangover.
As the oldest roller coaster at the park, Python enjoyed a classic status, but it also suffered the ravages that affect any aging machine.
The Chaos plague ravages through the Empire and the doctors can't seem to stop it.
It ensures early the treatment PKU babies need to develop normally and avoid the ravages of PKU.
From the beginning of the 17th century Adel suffered greatly from the ravages of pagan Galla tribes, and Harrar sank to the position of an amirate of little importance.
Strengthened by a considerable number of Christian Albanians, they rendered good service in defending Greece, and to some extent repressed the ravages of the Klephts; but their power and independence were disliked by the Turks.
The ravages of sleepingsickness between 1901 and 1909 destroyed upwards of a quarter of a million people, and the whole of the native population had to be removed from the lake shores and the Sese Islands; but nevertheless the protectorate continued to make steady progress in civilization and in the development of its material resources.
Till 732, Auch stood on the right bank of the Gers, but in that year the ravages of the Saracens drove the inhabitants to take refuge on the left bank of the river, where a new city was formed.
On sea the empire suffered under the ravages of the Cretan corsairs; and in 865 the first pillaging expedition of the Russians endangered the Bosporus.
Compelled by the windy climate the colonists are doing something to repair these ravages by planting European, Californian and Australian sheltertrees; but it is only in the naturally open and grassy regions of the east and south-east that settlement as yet improves the landscape.
It was soon rebuilt and is one of the few cities of Venezuela which have recovered from the ravages of the war of independence and subsequent disorders.
The railways and constabulary of the two colonies were (1903) placed under an inter-colonial council; active measures were taken for the repatriation of the prisoners of war and the residents in the concentration camps, and in every direction vigorous and successful efforts were made to repair the ravages of the war.
Wine is said to have been grown here in the iith century; the Saxon vineyards, chiefly on the banks of the Elbe near Meissen and Dresden, have of late years, owing to the ravages of the phylloxera, become almost extinct.
But in 792 some Frankish troops were killed at the mouth of the Elbe, and a similar disaster in the following year was the signal for a renewal of the ravages with great violence, when churches were destroyed, priests killed, or driven away, and many of the people returned to heathenism.
He was succeeded by his brother Hermann I., during whose reign Thuringia suffered greatly from the ravages of the adherents of Philip, duke of Swabia, and also from those of his rival Otto of Brunswick.
The fortifications of Anklam were dismantled in 1762 and have not since been restored, although the old walls are still standing; formerly, however, it was a town of considerable military importance, which suffered severely during the Thirty Years' and the Seven Years' Wars; and this fact, together with the repeated ravages of fire and of the plague, has made its history more eventful than is usually the case with towns of the same size.