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

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for scourging

Verb

The Grand Canyon has seen ravaging floods in the past week, sparking search and rescue missions and damaging nearly 40% of its sole water pipeline.

— Joshua Hong, Fortune, 4 Sep. 2026
But Vicente dismisses global heating as the main reason for the fires that are ravaging Europe.

— Chris Marshall-Bell, New York Times, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of ravaging

Verb

Goalkeeper Emi Martinez floated a ball over Ezri Konsa to Rogers, who exchanged passes with Joao Pedro before shifting sharply onto his right foot and whipping a shot just wide of David Raya’s far post.

— Liam Twomey, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2026
Into the work, esparza’s has also added a scene from the Florentine Codex showing a Spaniard whipping an Indigenous person and images of ICE raids in LA and Chicago, connecting centuries of oppression together.

— Maximilíano Durón, ARTnews.com, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of whipping

Verb

However, researchers found that more than 15,000 of those edits had been made by AI agents that used the pages to share various tactics and tips for cheating, hacking, and hiding their behavior from human monitors.

— Beatrice Nolan, Fortune, 7 Sep. 2026
On rainy days when the sun is hiding and the temperatures are cool, consider these your emotional support pants.

— Stephanie Osmanski, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Sep. 2026

Definition of hiding

Verb

The country is also recovering from devastating back-to-back earthquakes in June that have so far killed over 6,000 people.

— Syra Ortiz Blanes, Miami Herald, 5 Sep. 2026
Rescue operations and clean-up crews are still working in the wake of last week’s devastating debris avalanche and floods in Nepal and Tibet.

— Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 2 Sep. 2026

Definition of devastating

Verb

The new approach, the research team explains, could replace the current slow, labor-intensive process, ultimately slashing the cost of production.

— Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 6 Sep. 2026
Lululemon is down more than 20% after reporting a weak quarter and slashing its full-year outlook.

— Jeff Marks, CNBC, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of slashing

Verb

These are just two of the many scenes of destruction the hurricane has left in Hawaii after lashing the state’s western islands with heavy rain, widespread flooding and tropical-storm-force winds on Monday and Tuesday.

— Liz Kreutz, NBC news, 9 Sep. 2026
This week’s meeting of G20 finance ministers underscored rising global trade tensions, with several countries, including the US, lashing out at China.

— Jeronimo Gonzalez, semafor.com, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of lashing

Verb

The Taliban bans filming in public areas where flogging as well as stoning takes place, but MA says that individuals who oppose the practice have been discretely filming these events, then posting the video.

— Ruchi Kumar, NPR, 8 Sep. 2026
Rubin, who has built a business flogging sports merchandising and collectibles, is renowned for his annual White Party in the exclusive Hamptons, near New York City.

— James Horncastle, New York Times, 5 Sep. 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 13 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of scourging

verb

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