Dictionary

lay waste en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Meanings

1. (transitive) To completely destroy, especially of a geographical area or region.
   • In addition to racking up what looks like a substantial offscreen body count, the movie at one point offers an eight-second introduction for a sleazy used-car salesman character for the sole purpose of justifying Tripp and Creech laying waste to his inventory. 2017 January 12, Jesse Hassenger, “A literal monster truck is far from the stupidest thing about Monster Trucks”, in The Onion AV Club:
   • Thirsting for revenge, his troops stormed the fortress of Kazan on the upper Volga in 1553, slaughtering the defenders just as the Mongols had done when they laid waste Russia's great cities. 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 16:
   • When she recovered from a bad illness that she had, she laid the whole place waste, as you have seen it, and she has never since looked upon the light of day. 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter III, in Great Expectations […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 43:
2. (form-of, past) simple past of lie waste
   form of lie waste

Forms

Synonyms

disperse · overturn · liquidate · exterminate · blot out · decompose · nuke · erase · desolate · ravel · ravage · jazz · annihilate · pulverize · fuck · bewreck · uproot · extirpate · waste · raze · fordo · extinguish · aerosolize · lay waste · wreck · eliminate · ravage · atomize · diffuse · disintegrate · eradicate · remove · benothing · total · level · stamp out · devastate · race · ruin · pull down · devastate · destroy · harry · dash · unexist · obliterate · unmake · demolish · blotto · unbreed · dissolve · overthrow · wipe out · wipe off · ruinate · subvert

Translations (38)

ang forhergian (to completely destroy) · da ødelægge (to completely destroy) · uk пусто́шити (to completely destroy) · la vastō (to completely destroy) · io devastar (to completely destroy) · la dēvastō (to completely destroy) · uk розоря́ти (to completely destroy) · tr yakıp yıkmak (to completely destroy) · es yermar (to completely destroy) · pt vastar (to completely destroy) · uk розори́ти (to completely destroy) · it mettere a ferro e fuoco (to completely destroy) · tr tahrip etmek (to completely destroy) · ru опустоши́ть (to completely destroy) · uk плюндрува́ти (to completely destroy) · ru разоря́ть (to completely destroy) · ru опустоша́ть (to completely destroy) · ga folmhaigh (to completely destroy) · es arrasar (to completely destroy) · sl opustošiti (to completely destroy) · es devastar (to completely destroy) · sh opustošiti (to completely destroy) · fi hävittää (to completely destroy) · sv ödelägga (to completely destroy) · ga fásaigh (to completely destroy) · ga bánaigh (to completely destroy) · pt devastar (to completely destroy) · uk спусто́шувати (to completely destroy) · tr harap etmek (to completely destroy) · de verwüsten (to completely destroy) · ro devasta (to completely destroy) · uk спусто́шити (to completely destroy) · de verheeren (to completely destroy) · grc ἐρημόω (to completely destroy) · la populor (to completely destroy) · uk сплюндрува́ти (to completely destroy) · nl verwoesten (to completely destroy) · ru разори́ть (to completely destroy)