Severe damage or destruction, usually caused by something powerful like war, disease, or time.
From Old French 'ravage' meaning 'to rob' or 'to destroy,' derived from Latin 'rapere' 'to seize.' The word entered English in the 16th century referring to violent destruction.
We often say 'the ravages of time,' which poetically treats time like an invading army gradually destroying everything—an image that shows how humans personify time as an unstoppable destructive force.
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