1
as in ravaged
to bring destruction to (something) through violent action
barbarians scourged the countryside, leaving village after village burned to the ground
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2
as in whipped
to strike repeatedly with something long and thin or flexible
scourge the tree with a whip to loosen the bark
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Recent Examples of scourged
These scourged the poor harder than anyone else.
—
Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 31 Aug. 2025
Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 31 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scourged
Verb
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In November, researchers published findings about the deadly pathogens that ravaged Napoleon's soldiers during his doomed 1812 retreat from Russia.—
Andrea Margolis,
FOXNews.com,
29 Jan. 2026
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The Texans were ravaged by injuries on the interior defensive line this season, and many of those players will be free agents.—
Eddie Brown,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
22 Jan. 2026
Verb
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In an unlit room, the children are whipped and verbally chastized.—
Blake Simons,
IndieWire,
26 Jan. 2026
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Mountains of snow accumulated in drifts, whipped by winds of 50 mph or more.—
Kori Rumore,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Well, Federer just destroyed him — 6-1, 6-4 in about 50 minutes — and that left a lot of time to fill.—
Patrick McEnroe,
New York Times,
28 Jan. 2026
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The fire killed two people, destroyed 1,084 homes and businesses and did more than $2 billion in property damage.—
Judith Kohler,
Denver Post,
27 Jan. 2026
Verb
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But Johnson, who won a pair of Super Bowl championships with the Cowboys, lashed out at Spygate being the reason for Belichick not being selected.—
Pete Grathoff,
Kansas City Star,
28 Jan. 2026
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This is far from the first time the White House has lashed out at the cohosts of The View.—
Joey Nolfi,
Entertainment Weekly,
21 Jan. 2026
Verb
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California lawmakers proposed $90 million in new funding for Planned Parenthood and reproductive health providers devastated by federal defunding.—
Katie King,
Los Angeles Times,
31 Jan. 2026
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Stan, devastated by their betrayal, still can't quite wrap his head around it.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
30 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Splitting those 36 counties into three slices helps to show how the homebuying burden has changed from 2025’s fourth quarter to not-so-recent lows in buying’s financial burden – a decade-plus ago, just after the Great Recession slashed prices.—
Jonathan Lansner,
Oc Register,
31 Jan. 2026
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In California, lawmakers responded to the local news crisis with a series of efforts that have been killed off or slashed down.—
Ethan Baron,
Mercury News,
28 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The media flagged and flogged it for AI incompetence.—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
25 Jan. 2026
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To be publicly flogged for how much Pa permitted us to do — that felt grossly unfair.—
Meredith Kile,
PEOPLE,
31 Dec. 2025
Verb
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And finally, in late October, when plans for another bilateral summit were shelved (again because the Kremlin seemed unwilling to compromise), the White House slapped sanctions on Russia’s biggest oil giants, Lukoil and Rosneft – a step even the Biden administration had balked at.—
Clare Sebastian,
CNN Money,
27 Jan. 2026
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As Khloé attempted to pull the women apart, punches and kicks flew, and Kourtney slapped Kim across the face.—
Liza Esquibias,
PEOPLE,
27 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Scourged.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scourged. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
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