havoc
/ˈhævək/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/ˈhævək/
havoc noun: widespread devastation and destruction.
Noun
havoc (usually uncountable, plural havocs)
- Widespread devastation and destruction.
- I [Paul the Apostle] vvas going to Damaſcus vvith Letters from the High Prieſt to make Havock of God's People there, as I had made Havock of them in other places. Theſe bloody Letters vvas not impoſed upon me. I vvent to the High Prieſt and deſired them of him, Acts 9. 1, 2. And yet he [God] ſaved...1688, John Bunyan, Good News for the Vilest of Men, or, A Help for Despairing Souls. […], London: […] George Larkin, […], →OCLC, page 59
- Ye Gods, what Havock does Ambition make / Among your Works!1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1
- Mayhem.
Verb
havoc (third-person singular simple present havocs, present participle havocking, simple past and past participle havocked)
- To pillage.
- To tear and havoc more than she can eat.1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- To cause havoc.
Interjection
- A cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.
- Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt / With modest warrant.c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Cry "havoc", and let slip the dogs of war!1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
havoc meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
havoc in Hindi
- devastation
- नाश nāś
havoc in Tamil
- சூறை, பேரழிவு, பெருஞ்சேதம்
havoc in Urdu
- بربادی, غارتگری, نقصان
havoc in Bengali
- মহাধ্বংস, চরম বিশৃঙ্খলা, ব্যাপক ক্ষয়ক্ষতি
More languagesFewer languages
- havoc in Malayalam
- നാശം nāśaṁ
- havoc in Kannada
- ಅನಾಹುತ, ವ್ಯಾಪಕ ಹಾನಿ, ಸರ್ವನಾಶ, ಅಳಿವು
Examples of havoc in a sentence
- I [Paul the Apostle] vvas going to Damaſcus vvith Letters from the High Prieſt to make Havock of God's People there, as I had made Havock of them in other places.1688, John Bunyan, Good News for the Vilest of Men, or, A Help for Despairing Souls. […], London: […] George Larkin, […], →OCLC, page 59:
- But when I had come to that part of the city which I judged to have contained the relics I sought I found havoc that had been wrought there even greater than elsewhere.1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The People that Time Forgot, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:
Forms of havoc
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | havocs |
| alternative form (obsolete) | hauocke |
| alternative form (obsolete) | havock |
| alternative form (obsolete) | havok |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | havocs |
| present participle | havocking |
| past participle | havocked |
| past | havocked |
Origin of havoc
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”), of obscure origin. Probably from a derivative of Old French *haf, hef (“hook”), from Frankish *haf, *habbjā, *happjā (“pruning-hook, scythe”), derived from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to take up, lift”), related to Old French havee (“handful”), Old French havet (“pruning-hook”), Old High German habba, heppa (“pruning-hook, scythe”), modern German Hippe (“billhook”). If so, then also related to English heave and doublet of hatchet.
Words formed from havoc
- havocker
- play havoc
- play merry havoc with
- raise havoc
- wreak havoc
- cry havoc
- break havoc
Phrases with havoc
- cried havoc
- cries havoc
- plays havoc
- wreck havoc
- crying havoc
- played havoc
- wreaks havoc
- playing havoc
- wreaked havoc
- wrought havoc
- wreaking havoc
- plays merry havoc with
2 more phrasesFewer phrases
Questions about havoc
- What does havoc mean?
- Havoc means widespread devastation and destruction.
- What is havoc in Hindi?
- Havoc in Hindi is नाश (nāś). See Havoc meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use havoc in a sentence?
- I [Paul the Apostle] vvas going to Damaſcus vvith Letters from the High Prieſt to make Havock of God's People there, as I had made Havock of them in other places.
- What part of speech is havoc?
- Havoc can be a noun, a verb or an interjection.
- How do you pronounce havoc?
- Havoc is pronounced /ˈhævək/.
- What is the plural of havoc?
- The plural of havoc is havocs.
Words near havoc in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: havoc (page history and authors); havoc (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); havoc (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Havoc (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); നാശം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); havoc (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-havoc.ogg.
Cite this entry: “havoc.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/havoc. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.