What's the difference between ravage and wreak?

Ravage


Definition:

  • (n.) 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.
  • (n.) To lay waste by force; to desolate by violence; to commit havoc or devastation upon; to spoil; to plunder; to consume.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The menace we’re facing – and I say we, because no one is spared – is embodied by the hooded men who are ravaging the cradle of civilization.
  • (2) They were ravaged by injuries at that point, although Park and Rafael in the centre was weird.
  • (3) This brings lads like 12-year-old Matthew Mason down from the magnificent studio his father Mark, from a coal-mining town ravaged by pit closures, lovingly built him in the back garden at Gants Hill, north-east London.
  • (4) That, officials claim, would allow further discussions on debt relief seen as crucial if the recession-ravaged Greek economy is ever to recover.
  • (5) The disease will keep ravaging the population (and slowly overwhelm the health service) until these circumstances change.
  • (6) Ignoring the tragedies of Matthew’s life prior to his murder will do nothing to help other young men in our community who are sold for sex, ravaged by drugs, and generally exploited.
  • (7) The majority of these children come from Guatemala , Honduras and El Salvador – three of the many countries ravaged by civil strife, drug wars and economic turmoil precipitated by US political and military intervention over several decades, as well as free-trade regimes and the corporate plunder of Latin America's natural resources.
  • (8) His voice, already weak from the ravages of Parkinson’s Syndrome, was flagging.
  • (9) Art galleries are scarce in the ravaged cities, but there are blank walls and pavements in abundance.
  • (10) Poor countries have won historic recognition of the plight they face from the ravages of climate change, wringing a pledge from rich nations that they will receive funds to repair the "loss and damage" incurred.
  • (11) Depicting the situation in Gaza in grim language the report states: “Three Israeli military operations in the past six years, in addition to eight years of economic blockade, have ravaged the already debilitated infrastructure of Gaza, shattered its productive base, left no time for meaningful reconstruction or economic recovery and impoverished the Palestinian population in Gaza , rendering their economic wellbeing worse than the level of two decades previous.
  • (12) In addition, the ravages of disease and the seasonal variations of food supply need to be overcome in tropical areas.
  • (13) Facebook Twitter Pinterest He commands the screen even when silent, his pain flitting across that gaunt, ravaged face … Sean Bean in Broken.
  • (14) Political manoeuvering aside, the 54-year-old will come under immediate pressure to revive the economy, rein in the strong yen and oversee the reconstruction of the tsunami-ravaged north-east coast and the operation to stabilise Fukushima Daiichi.
  • (15) He added: "This [flexible screen] is Samsung's silver bullet against the ravages on commoditisation in Android, but fortunately Samsung does not need it to work right away.
  • (16) It said Syria’s “exceptional archaeological and historical heritage” had not escaped the ravages of a conflict that has killed almost 93,000 and prompted 1.6 million refugees to flee the country.
  • (17) The ravages which fundamentalist political ideology inflicted on the 20th century are memories.
  • (18) Instead, in his view, there was only broad agreement on the need for a fund to protect poor countries from the worst ravages of climate change, a plan to help developing countries adopt new clean energy technology, and another programme — with funding from the industrialised world — to reduce deforestation in the developing world. "
  • (19) Nor is there any inherent contradiction in an environmentalist being in favour of nuclear power – George Monbiot , Mark Lynas and James Lovelock have written eloquently on the importance of nuclear power in mitigating the ravages of climate change.
  • (20) In a canyon between grey shattered precipices of bomb-ravaged buildings, an uncountable number of people wait for food.

Wreak


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To reck; to care.
  • (v. t.) To revenge; to avenge.
  • (v. t.) To execute in vengeance or passion; to inflict; to hurl or drive; as, to wreak vengeance on an enemy.
  • (v. t.) Revenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Even digital news, which has wreaked havoc on all other news, finds the advertising revenues that support it dwindling (or failing to grow).
  • (2) Last month, for example, the Daily Telegraph's Peter Oborne bemoaned their "devastating" fate, in a piece worth quoting at reasonable length, if only to prove that the idea of an out-of-touch elite blithely wreaking havoc is not the preserve of hard-bitten lefties.
  • (3) It was a fairly valiant attempt from Manchester United , but as their players grew leggy from chasing shadows, they dropped deep and let Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery wreak their unique brand of havoc.
  • (4) Rajoy’s hope is that Sánchez’s failure in the upcoming investiture vote wreaks havoc inside the PSOE, potentially opening the door to a scenario that might favour him.
  • (5) Hardly any development funding for implementation has been disbursed.” 68 million children likely to die by 2030 from preventable causes, report says Read more Dr David Richmond, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said the series offered a “wake-up call to governments worldwide to make faster progress in reducing the number of stillbirths, which wreak untold damage on families, care givers and communities”.
  • (6) Six years later, as the cultural revolution wreaked havoc, young Xi was dispatched to the dusty, impoverished north-western province of Shaanxi to "learn from the masses".
  • (7) Chief executive John Walden said retailers have learned their lesson from last year’s Black Friday sales bonanza, which wreaked havoc on the high street and hit shops’ profits in the run-up to Christmas.
  • (8) Walk more Saño, who shot to fame in 2013 for breaking down in tears and fasting for two weeks at UN climate talks after typhoon Haiyan wreaked havoc in his country, is currently walking 1,500km from Rome to this year’s conference in Paris.
  • (9) These and other voters could also be attracted to the AfD by media reports that a strong showing for the party could wreak havoc with parliamentary arithmetic.
  • (10) But the US, Israel and other western spy agencies have also spent years slipping faulty parts into black market consignments of equipment heading to Iran – each designed to wreak havoc inside the delicate machinery requirement for enrichment.
  • (11) On the Apollo missions, lunar dust got everywhere – the crews inhaled it and got it in their eyes, and it wreaked mechanical havoc – and on Mars the dust is even more problematic, because it is highly oxidised, chemically reactive, electrically charged and windblown.
  • (12) It's also the product of the wider crisis of neoliberal capitalism that first erupted in the banking system five years ago and has since wreaked havoc on public finances, jobs, services and living standards throughout the western world.
  • (13) The tragedy is that there is a growing number of people in the Labour Party – perhaps even Ed Miliband – who believe that they can manipulate industrial unrest to wreak revenge for their electoral defeats.
  • (14) Accepting that a Greek default was now impossible to avoid, EU governments are hoping it will be brief and "selective", not triggering a "credit event" on the financial markets that could wreak havoc on the credit default swap markets, also in the US, and unleash contagion.
  • (15) The tobacco industry implies that the demise of tobacco consumption would wreak havoc with the economy.
  • (16) There wasn't some evil plan hatched behind closed doors to wreak socio-economic havoc.
  • (17) Photograph: Alderac Entertainment Group King of Tokyo Based on the public-domain dice game Yahtzee, King of Tokyo transforms players into giant monsters competing to wreak destruction on the Japanese capital.
  • (18) As temperatures warm,” he said, “things on higher elevations get warmer and things on lower elevations move up.” Bark beetles, once killed by cold winters, are now surviving and wreaking havoc with trees.
  • (19) The south-east of England is most at risk from these invaders which can prey on native British freshwater species, substantially alter the ecology of waterways and wreak economic damage by blocking water pipes, according to a new study by a University of Cambridge team.
  • (20) Rain and wind continued to wreak havoc across the UK this weekend, with south-west England and Wales battered by gusts of up to 71mph.