different between widespread vs havoc

English

Alternative forms

• wide-spread

Etymology

From wide +? spread.

Adjective

widespread (comparative widerspread or more widespread, superlative widestspread or most widespread)

1. Affecting a large area (e.g. the entire land or body); broad in extent; widely diffused.

   • It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.

Synonyms

• extensive, pervasive, prevalent, ubiquitous, universal; see also Thesaurus:widespread

Antonyms

• limited

Derived terms

• widespreadly
• widespreadness

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• havock (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English havok, havyk, from Old French havok in the phrase crier havok (“cry havoc”) a signal to soldiers to seize plunder, from Old French crier (“cry out, shout”) + havot (“pillaging, looting”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?hæv.?k/

Noun

havoc (usually uncountable, plural havocs)

1. widespread devastation, destruction

   • Ye gods, what havoc does ambition make / Among your works!
2. mayhem

Usage notes

The noun havoc is most often used in the set phrase wreak havoc.

Derived terms

• play havoc, raise havoc, wreak havoc, cry havoc, break havoc

Translations

Verb

havoc (third-person singular simple present havocs, present participle havocking, simple past and past participle havocked)

1. To pillage.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act I, Scene II:

     To tear and havoc more than she can eat.

2. To cause havoc.

Usage notes

As with other verbs ending in vowel + -c, the gerund-participle is sometimes spelled havocing, and the preterite and past participle is sometimes spelled havoced; for citations using these spellings, see their respective entries. However, the spellings havocking and havocked are far more common. Compare panic, picnic.

Translations

Interjection

havoc

1. A cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.

   • Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt / With modest warrant.

References