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Wreak vs Sow - What's the difference?

wreak | sow |

In lang=en terms the difference between wreak and sow

is that wreak is to cause, inflict or let out, especially if causing harm or injury while sow is to scatter, disperse, or plant (seeds).

As verbs the difference between wreak and sow

is that wreak is to cause, inflict or let out, especially if causing harm or injury while sow is to scatter, disperse, or plant (seeds).

As nouns the difference between wreak and sow

is that wreak is (archaic|literary) revenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment while sow is a female pig.

wreak

English

Etymology 1

(etyl) wrecan, from (etyl) ; cognate via PIE with Latin urgere (English urge), and distantly cognate to English wreck.

Verb

  • To cause, inflict or let out, especially if causing harm or injury.
    • The earthquake wreaked havoc in the city.
    She wreaked her anger on his car.
  • * Macaulay
    • Now was the time to be avenged on his old enemy, to wreak a grudge of seventeen years.
  • (archaic) To inflict or take vengeance on.
  • * 1874 ,
    • ''their woe
    ''Broods maddening inwardly and scorns to wreak
    ''Itself abroad;
  • * 1856-1885 —
    • Kill the foul thief, and wreak me for my son.
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1917 , year_published=2008 , edition=HTML , editor= , author=Edgar Rice Burroughs , title=A Princess of Mars , chapter= citation , genre= , publisher=The Gutenberg Project , isbn= , page= , passage=At heart they hate their horrid fates, and so wreak their poor spite on me who stand for everything they have not, … }}
  • (archaic) To take vengeance for.
  • * Fairfax
    • Come wreak his loss, whom bootless ye complain.
    Usage notes
    The verb wreak'' is generally used in the form “wreak ''damage or harm of some sort'' (on ''something )”, and is often used in the set phrase wreak havoc, though “wreak damage”, “wreak destruction”, and “wreak revenge” are also common. Not to be confused with wreck, with similar meaning of destruction and similar etymological roots; common confusion in misspelling wreck havoc. It has become common to use wrought, the original past tense and participle for work, as the past tense and past participle for wreak'', as in ''wrought havoc'' (i.e. ''worked havoc'' for ''wreaked havoc''), due both to the fact that the weak form ''worked'' has edged out ''wrought'' from its former role almost entirely (except as an adjective referring usually to hand-worked metal goods), and via confusion from the ''wr-'' beginning both ''wreak'' and ''wrought , and probably by analogy with seek).
    Derived terms
    * wreak havoc

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) wreke, wrake, Northern Middle English variants of wreche, influenced later by Etymology 1, above. Compare (etyl) wraak.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic, literary) Revenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment.
  • * 1903 , George Chapman, Richard Herne Shepherd, Algernon Charles Swinburne, The Works of George Chapman :
    • However, no thought touch'd Minerva's mind, That any one should escape his wreak design'd.
  • * 2003 , John Foxe, John Cumming, Book of Martyrs and the Acts and Monuments of the Church :
    • For three causes Duke William entered this land to subdue Harold. One was, for that it was to him given by King Edward his nephew. The second was, to take wreak for the cruel murder of his nephew Alfred, King Edward's brother, and of the Normans, which deed he ascribed chiefly to Harold.
  • * 2006 , The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night - Volume 2 - Page 188:
    • Would that before my death I might but see my son The empery in my stead over the people hold And rush upon his foes and take on them his wreak , At push of sword and pike, in fury uncontrolled.
  • (archaic, literary) Punishment; retribution; payback.
  • * 1885': Of a surety none murdered the damsel but I; take her '''wreak on me this moment — Sir Richard Burton, ''The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night , Night 19

    • References

    Anagrams

    * English irregular verbs

    sow

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) sowe, from (etyl) sugu, from (etyl) (ae)). See also swine .

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • A female pig.
  • A channel that conducts molten metal to molds.
  • A mass of metal solidified in a mold.
  • * 1957 , H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry , p. 160:
    • In England, it was generally termed a 'sow' , if the weight was above 10 cwts., if below, it was termed a 'pig' from which the present term 'pig iron' is derived.
  • (derogatory, slang) A contemptible, often fat woman.
  • A sowbug.
  • (military) A kind of covered shed, formerly used by besiegers in filling up and passing the ditch of a besieged place, sapping and mining the wall, etc.
    • (Craig)
    Usage notes
    The plural form swine is now obsolete in this sense.
    Synonyms
    * (mass of metal solidified in a mold) ingot * (contemptible woman) bitch, cow
    Derived terms
    * make a silk purse of a sow's ear

    See also

    * boar * hog * pig

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) sowen, from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • To scatter, disperse, or plant (seeds).
    • When I had sown the field, the day's work was over.
    As you sow , so shall you reap.
  • (figurative) To spread abroad; to propagate.
  • * Addison
    • And sow dissension in the hearts of brothers.
  • (figurative) To scatter over; to besprinkle.
  • * Sir M. Hale
    • The intellectual faculty is a goodly field, and it is the worst husbandry in the world to sow it with trifles.
  • * Milton
    • [He] sowed with stars the heaven.
    Synonyms
    * plant, scatter
    Derived terms
    * reap what one sows *

    Anagrams

    * English heteronyms English irregular verbs English terms with multiple etymologies