lay waste to

lay waste to — idiom

1. to devastate an area, building, or system by destroying it so thoroughly that li

1.慣用語C1
釋義

to devastate an area, building, or system by destroying it so thoroughly that little or nothing remains usable

例句

The earthquake laid waste to entire coastal villages, leaving thousands homeless.

past tense: laid waste to + location

A wildfire laid waste to fifty thousand acres of forest in southern Oregon last summer.

collocation: laid waste to + large area (acres of forest)

同義詞
  • devastate

    more common and slightly less formal; can be used in the same contexts

  • ravage

    similar register but emphasises violent, destructive force over time

  • raze

    more specific: to destroy a building or town completely, leaving no trace

反義詞
  • rebuild

    to construct again after destruction

  • restore

    to bring back to a previous condition

文法句型

lay waste to + noun phrase

laid waste to + noun phrase

用法筆記

More formal and literary than 'destroy' or 'devastate'. Common in historical accounts, news reports about large-scale disasters, and descriptions of war. The verb 'lay' conjugates irregularly (lay/laid/laid), but 'waste' is never inflected. The preposition 'to' is an obligatory part of the idiom.

常見錯誤

❌The storm wasted the entire town.
✅The storm laid waste to the entire town.
💡The fixed phrase is 'lay waste to', not the verb 'waste' alone.
❌They laid waste the city.
✅They laid waste to the city.
💡The preposition 'to' is a required part of the idiom and cannot be dropped.