mindmap root((肆虐)) ravage implies a violent, severe, and often accumulative depredation and destruction: a hurricane that ~d the Gulf coast. devastate implies the complete ruin and desolation of a wide area: the atomic bomb that ~d Hiroshima. waste may imply a less complete destruction or one produced by a slower or less violent process: years of drought had ~d the area. sack implies the looting and destroying of a place: barbarians ~ed ancient Rome. pillage implies ruthless plundering at will but without the completeness suggested by sack: settlements ~d by the Vikings. despoil applies to the looting or robbing of a place or people without suggesting accompanying destruction: the Nazis ~ed the art museums of Europe.