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Amok vs Havoc - What's the difference?

amok | havoc |

As nouns the difference between amok and havoc

is that amok is one who runs amok; in Malay and Moro/Philippine culture, one who attempts to kill many others, especially expecting that they will be killed themselves while havoc is widespread devastation, destruction.

As an adverb amok

is out of control, especially when armed and dangerous.

As a verb havoc is

to pillage.

As an interjection havoc is

a cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.

amok

English

Alternative forms

* amuck, amock

Adverb

(wikipedia amok) (en adverb)
  • Out of control, especially when armed and dangerous
  • In a frenzy of violence, or on a killing spree; berserk

    • Usage notes

    Almost exclusively used in the phrase run amok.

    Derived terms

    *

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One who runs amok; in Malay and Moro/Philippine culture, one who attempts to kill many others, especially expecting that they will be killed themselves.

    • Anagrams

    * ----

    havoc

    English

    Alternative forms

    * havock (e.g. in Milton)

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • widespread devastation, destruction
  • * Bible, Acts viii. 3
    • As for Saul, he made havoc of the church.
  • * Addison
    • Ye gods, what havoc does ambition make / Among your works!
  • :* {{quote-book
    • , year=1918 , year_published=2008 , edition=HTML , editor= , author=Edgar Rice Burroughs , title=The People that Time Forgot , chapter= citation , genre= , publisher=The Gutenberg Project , isbn= , page= , passage=But when I had come to that part of the city which I judged to have contained the relics I sought I found havoc that had been wrought there even greater than elsewhere. }}
  • mayhem

    • Usage notes

    The noun havoc is most often used in the set phrase wreak havoc. Old Hungarian Goulash?, The Grammarphobia Blog, October 31, 2008

    Derived terms

    * play havoc, raise havoc, wreak havoc, cry havoc, break havoc

    Verb

  • To pillage.
  • * 1599 , , Henry V , Act I, Scene II:
    • To tear and havoc more than she can eat.
  • To cause .

    • Usage notes

    As with other verbs ending in vowel + -c, The gerund-participle is sometimes spelled havocing, and the preterite and past participle is sometimes spelled havoced; for citations using these spellings, see their respective entries. However, the spellings havocking and havocked are far more common. Compare panic, picnic.

    References

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • A cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.
  • * Toone
    • Do not cry havoc , where you should but hunt / With modest warrant.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Cry "havoc", and let slip the dogs of war!