Defacement vs Havoc - What's the difference?
defacement | havoc | Related terms |
An act of defacing]]; an instance of visibly marring or [[disfigure, disfiguring something.
An act of voiding or devaluing; nullification of the face value.
(heraldry, vexillology) A symbol added to a flag or coat of arms to change it or make it different from another.
widespread devastation, destruction
* Bible, Acts viii. 3
* Addison
:* {{quote-book
, year=1918
, year_published=2008
, edition=HTML
, editor=
, author=Edgar Rice Burroughs
, title=The People that Time Forgot
, chapter=
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To pillage.
* 1599 , , Henry V , Act I, Scene II:
To cause .
A cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.
* Toone
* Shakespeare
As nouns the difference between defacement and havoc
is that defacement is an act of defacing; an instance of visibly marring or disfiguring something while havoc is widespread devastation, destruction.As a verb havoc is
to pillage.As an interjection havoc is
a cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.defacement
English
Noun
(en noun)- Some consider the defacement of the Sphinx to be the most egregious crime of Napolean's campaigns.
- The soldiers found a variety of creative uses for their payment scrip after its defacement to scrap paper; some used it as toilet paper.
Usage notes
* Defacement generally has negative valence (that is, it is a bad thing), except in heraldry, where it is a neutral term.Synonyms
* (act of defacing ): disfiguration, graffiti, obliteration, vandalism * (nullification of face value ): cancellation, devaluationhavoc
English
Alternative forms
* havock (e.g. in Milton)Noun
(en-noun)- As for Saul, he made havoc of the church.
- Ye gods, what havoc does ambition make / Among your works!
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. }}
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 havocVerb
- To tear and havoc more than she can eat.
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)- Do not cry havoc , where you should but hunt / With modest warrant.
- Cry "havoc", and let slip the dogs of war!