SCOURGING Synonyms: 141 Similar and Opposite Words

scourging

verb

present participle of scourge

as in ravaging

to bring destruction to (something) through violent action barbarians scourged the countryside, leaving village after village burned to the ground

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in whipping

to strike repeatedly with something long and thin or flexible scourge the tree with a whip to loosen the bark

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for scourging

Verb

Over the past two seasons, UCLA has remarkably maintained the majority of its talent despite the transfer portal ravaging so many teams.

— Aaron Heisen, Daily News, 9 July 2026
Forty years ago, when the AIDS epidemic was ravaging New York, some Southern Baptists described it as God’s judgment—a punishment for its victims’ life style.

— Burkhard Bilger, New Yorker, 29 June 2026

Definition of ravaging

Verb

Onstage, Shakira unleashed her inner rock star during the song, working the stage and the mic stand in a purple corset and matching fringe pants and whipping her lengthy curls like a weapon.

— Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 7 July 2026
Olise kept his intentions hidden to the last, shaping up to cross the ball to the back post before sharply turning his hips and whipping his pass into the goalscorer’s path, breaking two defensive lines along the way.

— Thom Harris, New York Times, 4 July 2026

Definition of whipping

Verb

Or tech companies forcing regular people to foot the electricity bills for their environment-destroying data centers!

— Rebekah Taussig, Time, 7 July 2026
Many older interceptor missiles use blast-fragmentation warheads, detonating near the incoming missile and destroying it with high-speed metal fragments.

— Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 6 July 2026

Definition of destroying

Verb

Failing to disclose or intentionally hiding assets can make a prenup more vulnerable to being challenged in court.

— Jasmin Suknanan, CNBC, 6 July 2026
The find suggests one of NASA’s most successful planet hunters may still have plenty of surprises hiding in its archives.

— Sam Macdonald, Scientific American, 6 July 2026

Definition of hiding

Verb

Then Ferrari’s team reboots the underlying technology—centralizing server costs, cleaning up sprawling codebases—while slashing costs.

— Chris Dobstaff, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026
Higgins said her solution is to speed up permitting by slashing red tape — both for these types of large, city projects and for home and business owners trying to install resilient upgrades.

— Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 1 July 2026

Definition of slashing

Verb

Back at the dilapidated family home, Edgar grows even surlier, lashing into gentle-natured Joe for being an under-achiever compared to his brother and causing Thya to become apprehensive about Ed’s proximity to sharp objects.

— David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 8 July 2026
Unfortunately, this can lead to some individuals lashing out in response to their own insecurities, hate and low bar of aptitude, which is confirmed by the tenor of the attacks.

— Jallicia Jolly, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026

Definition of lashing

Verb

So, that is one gig at a completely unnecessary addition to the sports calendar, created by corporate interests for the sole intention of flogging products to people who do not really like sport… and another at the Enhanced Games.

— Matt Slater, New York Times, 23 May 2026
In an even more meta moment, Amazon interrupted its own Upfront with actual ads with Summer House star Paige DeSorbo flogging certain items to an increasingly frustrated audience.

— Peter White, Deadline, 11 May 2026

Definition of flogging

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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scourges

scourging

scouring

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“Scourging.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scourging. Accessed 11 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of scourging

verb

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