# havoc

Pronunciation: say "HAV-uhk" /ˈhævək/

## Noun

1. Destruction and devastation on a wide scale.
   - Simple: Very great damage that spreads over a large area.
   - _The hurricane wreaked havoc along the coast, flattening homes and uprooting trees._
   - _Locusts brought havoc to the region's farms, stripping whole fields bare within days._
2. Chaotic, often violent disorder and confusion.
   - Simple: Wild disorder where everything is out of control.
   - _Two loose goats caused havoc at the wedding, knocking over chairs and chasing guests._
   - _The power outage created havoc at the airport, with angry crowds jammed at every gate._

## Verb

3. To plunder a place, robbing it by force.
   - Simple: To attack a place and take its goods by force.
   - _The raiders havocked every farm along the river and drove off the cattle._
   - _Bandits would havoc the border towns whenever the garrison marched away._

## Interjection

4. Shouted in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter, usually in the phrase cry havoc.
   - Simple: Shouted in war to tell soldiers to kill anyone they find.
   - _The general raised his sword and cried "Havoc!" as his troops poured through the gate._
   - _When the walls fell, a voice cried havoc, and the slaughter began._

## Other meanings

- (verb) To cause havoc.

## Origin

From Middle English havok, from Old French havok in the phrase crier havok ("cry havoc"), a signal to soldiers to seize plunder; havot ("pillaging, looting") is of obscure origin. It probably comes from a derivative of Old French *haf, hef ("hook"), from Frankish, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną ("to take up, lift"); if so, it is related to English heave and is a doublet of hatchet.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/havoc (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).