lays waste
Reduces to rubble
To lay waste is to destroy or devastate completely, leaving ruin behind: The hurricane laid waste to the coastal town.
The phrase typically describes large-scale destruction—armies laying waste to cities, fires laying waste to forests.
Lays waste is the third-person singular present tense: The disease lays waste to the immune system.
Severe widespread destruction
- annihilationUtter, complete destruction
- obliterationTotal destruction or erasure
- demolitionDeliberate structural destruction
- decimationNear-total destruction
razing · wreckage · ruins · rubble · carnage · havoc · ruin · eradication
Defeating and seizing control
- invasionForcible entry into territory
- siegeEncirclement forcing surrender
- sackingDismissal from employment
- pillageViolent theft of goods
plunder · ransack · marauding · blitzkrieg · bombardment · scorched earth · occupation · campaign
Unable to produce
- ruinsDecayed structural remains
- abandonedLeft behind completely
- desertedLeft behind, uninhabited
- uninhabitedHaving no occupants
blighted · scarred · emptied · depopulated · forsaken · lifeless · sterile · charred
Uncontrolled vegetation blaze
- plagueDeadly epidemic disease
- pestilenceFatal epidemic disease
- famineSevere food shortage
- droughtProlonged water scarcity
flood · hurricane · earthquake · tsunami · volcanic · locust swarm · epidemic · pandemic
devastation
Severe widespread destruction
- annihilationUtter, complete destruction
- obliterationTotal destruction or erasure
- demolitionDeliberate structural destruction
decimation · razing · wreckage · ruins · rubble · carnage · havoc · ruin · eradication · leveling
conquest
Defeating and seizing control
- invasionForcible entry into territory
- siegeEncirclement forcing surrender
- sackingDismissal from employment
pillage · plunder · ransack · marauding · blitzkrieg · bombardment · scorched earth · occupation · campaign · offensive
barren
Unable to produce
uninhabited · blighted · scarred · emptied · depopulated · forsaken · lifeless · sterile · charred · blackened
wildfire
Uncontrolled vegetation blaze
- plagueDeadly epidemic disease
- pestilenceFatal epidemic disease
- famineSevere food shortage
drought · flood · hurricane · earthquake · tsunami · volcanic · locust swarm · epidemic · pandemic · blight
lays wasterebuilds
Restores what was destroyed
restores · repairs · reconstructs · builds up · constructs
lays wastepreserves
Cooked fruit in sugar
protects · safeguards · conserves · defends · shields
lays wastecultivates
Nurtures toward growth
nurtures · develops · tends · enriches · fertilizes
lay, waste, lays, laying, wastes, wasted, wasting, wastage, wasteful