Scourge vs Devastate - What's the difference?
scourge | devastate |
(uncountable) A source of persistent trouble such as pestilence that causes pain and suffering or widespread destruction.
A means to inflict such pain or destruction.
* Shakespeare
* {{quote-magazine, title=Towards the end of poverty
, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=11, magazine=(The Economist)
A whip, often of leather.
* Chapman
To strike with a scourge , to flog.
To ruin many or all things over a large area, such as most or all buildings of a city, or cities of a region, or trees of a forest.
To destroy a whole collection of related ideas, beliefs, and strongly held opinions.
To break beyond recovery or repair so that the only options are abandonment or the clearing away of useless remains (if any) and starting over.
As verbs the difference between scourge and devastate
is that scourge is to strike with a scourge , to flog while devastate is to ruin many or all things over a large area, such as most or all buildings of a city, or cities of a region, or trees of a forest.As a noun scourge
is (uncountable) a source of persistent trouble such as pestilence that causes pain and suffering or widespread destruction.scourge
English
Noun
- What scourge for perjury / Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?
citation, passage=America’s poverty line is $63 a day for a family of four. In the richer parts of the emerging world $4 a day is the poverty barrier. But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 ([…]): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short.}}
- Up to coach then goes / The observed maid, takes both the scourge and reins.