Havoc vs Shambles - What's the difference?
havoc | shambles |
widespread devastation, destruction
* Bible, Acts viii. 3
* Addison
:* {{quote-book
, year=1918
, year_published=2008
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, author=Edgar Rice Burroughs
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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
work done in a poor fashion
a scene of great disorder or ruin
a great mess or clutter
a scene of bloodshed, carnage or devastation
a slaughterhouse
(archaic) a butcher's shop
* Jonathan Swift
(shamble)
As nouns the difference between havoc and shambles
is that havoc is widespread devastation, destruction while shambles is work done in a poor fashion.As verbs the difference between havoc and shambles
is that havoc is to pillage while shambles is (shamble).As an interjection havoc
is a cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.havoc
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!
shambles
English
Noun
(-)- This website is a shambles .
- As to our city of Dublin, shambles may be appointed for this purpose in the most convenient parts of it, and butchers we may be assured will not be wanting