| 词组 | ravage, ravish |
| 释义 | ravage, ravish Both of these verbs are ultimately derived from the same Middle French verb, ravir, but their fundamental meanings are distinct. Ravage has the basic sense "to plunder or destroy": • The war would ravage two particular reputations: Johnson's and McNamara's —David Halberstam, Harper's, February 1971 • ... as the coal company's power shovels ravage the land around them —H. L. Van Brunt, Saturday Rev., 8 Apr. 1972 Ravish has three primary senses—"to seize and carry away": • The food was ravished by the semi-wild, emaciated cat —Dave Lee, Cats Mag., July 1980 "to overcome with emotion (as joy or delight)": • Bellow is ravished by Alexandra's exotic ... celebrity —Richard Stern, N.Y. Times Mag., 21 Nov. 1976 and "to rape": • ... brutally ravished her in a lower berth —Time, 3 Jan. 1955 As many commentators have noted, ravage and ravish are easily confused, although our evidence suggests that errors are rare in edited writing. We have only a few clear-cut examples: • ... coming whenever he wanted to ravage her — James T. Farrell, What Time Collects, 1964 • ... a mountain torrent ravishes his potato field — Saturday Rev., 29 Mar. 1952 If you feel uncertain about which word to use in a particular context, a quick look in the dictionary will clear things up. It should be noted that ravish also has the rare sense "to plunder or rob." • ... slaves and concubines ravished from the Pecos people —Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop, 1927 • Buccaneer Henry Morgan, ravishing Panama of 400,000 pieces of eight in 1671 —Time, 24 Aug. 1953 Used in this sense, ravish resembles ravage closely enough that it may give the appearance of confusion even when none exists. That being so, you may well want to avoid this sense of ravish. |
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