Definition of wreak in English:

wreak

verb riːkrik

[with object]

1Cause (a large amount of damage or harm)
torrential rainstorms wreaked havoc yesterday
the environmental damage wreaked by ninety years of phosphate mining
Example sentencesExamples
- The adverse weather has wreaked havoc with many of the non-national routes and damage has run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.
- It might as well have been a million miles away from Stark's Park, where a strong swirling wind wreaked havoc on any attempts at finesse, and regularly carried players' frustrated words into the stands.
- On the heels of the longest bull run in history, last year's down market wreaked havoc at many financial services firms.
- It is 1969, and a cloistered block in west Philadelphia is shaken to its core by long kept secrets, betrayal and lies that wreak terrible damage on two families.
- Online lotteries, by their aggressive marketing techniques, had wreaked havoc on many families, especially those of daily-wage earners.
- They're among the world's tiniest creatures, but they're wreaking enormous damage across northern Australia.
- The Category 5 storm wreaked havoc, doing more than $20 billion in damage and making it by far the costliest hurricane ever in United States history.
- It is clear both sides are hoping to fight a similar war: swift and based on short, focused operations that will wreak maximum damage in the shortest possible time, with minimum casualties.
- During the next few months, previously unequalled damage was wreaked upon the site.
- The hurricane wreaked terrible damage on the east coast, at Miami and the Florida Keys.
- A firestorm wreaks its terrifying damage on an estate.
- Then, by one o'clock, the storm moved off to wreak damage in the north.
- But when the first human settlers, the Maoris, arrived about a thousand years ago, the rats and dogs they brought with them wreaked havoc on the islands' wildlife.
- The American signal crayfish were introduced in the 1970s to meet the demands of the restaurant trade but have since escaped into the wild to wreak huge damage on local eco-systems.
- According to Mary Bryan, the society's chief executive officer, even seemingly small mistakes can wreak huge amounts of damage.
- Rains in February wreaked havoc over large areas of the southern region of the North Island, costing millions of dollars and more than 1,000 head of cattle.
- Residents across county Carlow woke yesterday morning to find roads completely impassable, as drifting snow wreaked havoc on routes across the region.
- Many in the natural sciences think that we are at a threshold of either adapting our living to the constraints of nature or wreaking incredible damage to Earth as we destroy ourselves.
- Welch justifiably observes that this dredging is a massive and expensive undertaking that will perhaps wreak more environmental damage than leaving the river at rest.
- The quake hit at about 7:45 pm on Wednesday, wreaking the worst damage in towns near Thenia, 40 miles east of Algiers, the capital.
Synonyms
inflict, create, cause, result in, effect, engender, bring about, perpetrate, unleash, vent, bestow, deal out, mete out, serve out, administer, carry out, deliver, apply, lay on, impose, exact
rare effectuate
1. 1.1 Inflict (vengeance)
  they would soon have a chance to wreak their revenge on the enemy
  Example sentencesExamples
  I'd criticized him for showing mercy and compassion where I would have wreaked a devastating vengeance.
  But instead of wreaking his revenge on her, he falls in love with her.
  On such an account, Oakes finds he is not as generously treated in the book as he might like, and consequently wreaks some vengeance.
  Down I rode from the Black Sea steppe to wreak vengeance on the men of Athens.
  There is, however, an equally strong risk that these responses may be misused and manipulated towards the perceived need to wreak vengeance.
  And David O'Brien's father thinks Maria is the ghost of the mythical Dubhana, come back to wreak vengeance on him.
  Typically in a robot film, the script eventually calls for the obliging machine to override its software program and run amok, wreaking vengeance on its masters.
  In the back of his mind, he believes he may corner Laeddis and wreak his vengeance on the man who caused the death of the most important person in his life.
  Whoever praised Frederick within the borders of his realm did so from necessity, to evade the indignation of a prince who wreaked stern vengeance upon every foe.
  Before the fight, Ward made it clear this would be his final bout, so he had every motivation to wreak vengeance on Gatti and end his career a winner.
  On her release, she promptly drops her virtuous facade, dons the red eye shadow and sets about finding Baek and wreaking her vengeance.
  Thus begins an adventure in which Measle finds friends, braves dangers, wreaks vengeance and discovers a happy ending.
  I'm not trying to say that these semi-musical melodies bother me, just that they will provide me with the ultimate way to wreak my vengeance upon all of you who disrupt my lectures.
  A natural urge in newly freed countries is to wreak vengeance on, or at least deny continued privileges to, the oppressors of the previous regime.
  The scene in which the ruined, now dissolute Robinson finally wreaks vengeance - quite by accident - is unforgettable.
  If Brown-Lee decides to wreak vengeance on me for sending him nasty looks across the dinner table, I might need your assistance.
  And so, whatever happens, let's hope we're not going to have an administration that is set up to somehow wreak vengeance on the other side.
  It would be a sin to wreak vengeance on the innocent, but it would be a temptation very tough to control.
  It is blatantly unethical to wreak vengeance upon innocent bystanders.
  I think he was embarrassed by being thrown out and sought to wreak revenge.
2. 1.2archaic Avenge (someone who has been wronged)
  grant me some knight to wreak me for my son
  Example sentencesExamples
  Harenc wreaked him with a vengeance.

Usage

In the phrase wrought havoc, as in they wrought havoc on the countryside, wrought is an archaic past tense of work and is not, as is sometimes assumed, a past tense of wreak

Derivatives

wreaker

noun

The case of Bouzaglo, for example, offers a chance to examine the model of the wreaker of virtual mayhem.
Example sentencesExamples
- There's more than a trace of Margo in Jules, the lying, desperate marriage wreaker of My Best Friend's Wedding.
- I guess there's something radical about wreaking havoc in a factory - but who can watch this film and not root for the wreaker?

Origin

Old English wrecan 'drive (out), avenge', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch wreken and German rächen; compare with wrack⁴, wreck, and wretch.

wreck from Middle English:
When it first appeared wreck meant ‘cargo or wreckage washed ashore from a wrecked or stranded vessel’. The word came into English from Old French wrec. The source was an Old Norse word meaning ‘to drive’ that was related to wreak, ‘to cause a lot of damage or harm’, and to rack. A person in a state of stress or emotional exhaustion has been a wreck since the 1790s and a nervous wreck since about 1870. Wretch (Old English) and wretched (Middle English) are related to wreak.

Rhymes

antique, batik, beak, bespeak, bezique, bleak, boutique, cacique, caïque, cheek, chic, clique, creak, creek, critique, Dominique, eke, freak, geek, Greek, hide-and-seek, keek, Lalique, leak, leek, Martinique, meek, midweek, Mozambique, Mustique, mystique, oblique, opéra comique, ortanique, peak, Peake, peek, physique, pique, pratique, reek, seek, shriek, Sikh, sleek, sneak, speak, Speke, squeak, streak, teak, technique, tongue-in-cheek, tweak, unique, veronique, weak, week

Definition of wreak in US English:

wreak

verbrikrēk

[with object]

1Cause (a large amount of damage or harm)
torrential rainstorms wreaked havoc yesterday
the environmental damage wreaked by ninety years of phosphate mining
Example sentencesExamples
- According to Mary Bryan, the society's chief executive officer, even seemingly small mistakes can wreak huge amounts of damage.
- Residents across county Carlow woke yesterday morning to find roads completely impassable, as drifting snow wreaked havoc on routes across the region.
- The American signal crayfish were introduced in the 1970s to meet the demands of the restaurant trade but have since escaped into the wild to wreak huge damage on local eco-systems.
- Online lotteries, by their aggressive marketing techniques, had wreaked havoc on many families, especially those of daily-wage earners.
- The quake hit at about 7:45 pm on Wednesday, wreaking the worst damage in towns near Thenia, 40 miles east of Algiers, the capital.
- But when the first human settlers, the Maoris, arrived about a thousand years ago, the rats and dogs they brought with them wreaked havoc on the islands' wildlife.
- It is clear both sides are hoping to fight a similar war: swift and based on short, focused operations that will wreak maximum damage in the shortest possible time, with minimum casualties.
- Welch justifiably observes that this dredging is a massive and expensive undertaking that will perhaps wreak more environmental damage than leaving the river at rest.
- Then, by one o'clock, the storm moved off to wreak damage in the north.
- It might as well have been a million miles away from Stark's Park, where a strong swirling wind wreaked havoc on any attempts at finesse, and regularly carried players' frustrated words into the stands.
- The adverse weather has wreaked havoc with many of the non-national routes and damage has run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.
- It is 1969, and a cloistered block in west Philadelphia is shaken to its core by long kept secrets, betrayal and lies that wreak terrible damage on two families.
- The hurricane wreaked terrible damage on the east coast, at Miami and the Florida Keys.
- They're among the world's tiniest creatures, but they're wreaking enormous damage across northern Australia.
- Many in the natural sciences think that we are at a threshold of either adapting our living to the constraints of nature or wreaking incredible damage to Earth as we destroy ourselves.
- During the next few months, previously unequalled damage was wreaked upon the site.
- Rains in February wreaked havoc over large areas of the southern region of the North Island, costing millions of dollars and more than 1,000 head of cattle.
- A firestorm wreaks its terrifying damage on an estate.
- On the heels of the longest bull run in history, last year's down market wreaked havoc at many financial services firms.
- The Category 5 storm wreaked havoc, doing more than $20 billion in damage and making it by far the costliest hurricane ever in United States history.
Synonyms
inflict, create, cause, result in, effect, engender, bring about, perpetrate, unleash, vent, bestow, deal out, mete out, serve out, administer, carry out, deliver, apply, lay on, impose, exact
1. 1.1 Inflict (vengeance)
  they would soon have a chance to wreak their revenge on the enemy
  Example sentencesExamples
  Down I rode from the Black Sea steppe to wreak vengeance on the men of Athens.
  On her release, she promptly drops her virtuous facade, dons the red eye shadow and sets about finding Baek and wreaking her vengeance.
  And David O'Brien's father thinks Maria is the ghost of the mythical Dubhana, come back to wreak vengeance on him.
  Before the fight, Ward made it clear this would be his final bout, so he had every motivation to wreak vengeance on Gatti and end his career a winner.
  Typically in a robot film, the script eventually calls for the obliging machine to override its software program and run amok, wreaking vengeance on its masters.
  And so, whatever happens, let's hope we're not going to have an administration that is set up to somehow wreak vengeance on the other side.
  I'm not trying to say that these semi-musical melodies bother me, just that they will provide me with the ultimate way to wreak my vengeance upon all of you who disrupt my lectures.
  Whoever praised Frederick within the borders of his realm did so from necessity, to evade the indignation of a prince who wreaked stern vengeance upon every foe.
  But instead of wreaking his revenge on her, he falls in love with her.
  On such an account, Oakes finds he is not as generously treated in the book as he might like, and consequently wreaks some vengeance.
  A natural urge in newly freed countries is to wreak vengeance on, or at least deny continued privileges to, the oppressors of the previous regime.
  Thus begins an adventure in which Measle finds friends, braves dangers, wreaks vengeance and discovers a happy ending.
  I think he was embarrassed by being thrown out and sought to wreak revenge.
  I'd criticized him for showing mercy and compassion where I would have wreaked a devastating vengeance.
  It would be a sin to wreak vengeance on the innocent, but it would be a temptation very tough to control.
  If Brown-Lee decides to wreak vengeance on me for sending him nasty looks across the dinner table, I might need your assistance.
  There is, however, an equally strong risk that these responses may be misused and manipulated towards the perceived need to wreak vengeance.
  The scene in which the ruined, now dissolute Robinson finally wreaks vengeance - quite by accident - is unforgettable.
  It is blatantly unethical to wreak vengeance upon innocent bystanders.
  In the back of his mind, he believes he may corner Laeddis and wreak his vengeance on the man who caused the death of the most important person in his life.
2. 1.2archaic Avenge (someone who has been wronged)
  grant me some knight to wreak me for my son
  Example sentencesExamples
  Harenc wreaked him with a vengeance.

Usage

The phrase wrought havoc, as in they wrought havoc on the countryside, is an acceptable variant of wreaked havoc. Here, wrought is an archaic past tense of work. It is not, as is sometimes assumed, a past tense of wreak

Origin

Old English wrecan ‘drive (out), avenge’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch wreken and German rächen; compare with wrack, wreck, and wretch.

单词	wreak
释义	Definition of wreak in English: wreak verb riːkrik [with object] 1Cause (a large amount of damage or harm) torrential rainstorms wreaked havoc yesterday the environmental damage wreaked by ninety years of phosphate mining Example sentencesExamples The adverse weather has wreaked havoc with many of the non-national routes and damage has run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. It might as well have been a million miles away from Stark's Park, where a strong swirling wind wreaked havoc on any attempts at finesse, and regularly carried players' frustrated words into the stands. On the heels of the longest bull run in history, last year's down market wreaked havoc at many financial services firms. It is 1969, and a cloistered block in west Philadelphia is shaken to its core by long kept secrets, betrayal and lies that wreak terrible damage on two families. Online lotteries, by their aggressive marketing techniques, had wreaked havoc on many families, especially those of daily-wage earners. They're among the world's tiniest creatures, but they're wreaking enormous damage across northern Australia. The Category 5 storm wreaked havoc, doing more than $20 billion in damage and making it by far the costliest hurricane ever in United States history. It is clear both sides are hoping to fight a similar war: swift and based on short, focused operations that will wreak maximum damage in the shortest possible time, with minimum casualties. During the next few months, previously unequalled damage was wreaked upon the site. The hurricane wreaked terrible damage on the east coast, at Miami and the Florida Keys. A firestorm wreaks its terrifying damage on an estate. Then, by one o'clock, the storm moved off to wreak damage in the north. But when the first human settlers, the Maoris, arrived about a thousand years ago, the rats and dogs they brought with them wreaked havoc on the islands' wildlife. The American signal crayfish were introduced in the 1970s to meet the demands of the restaurant trade but have since escaped into the wild to wreak huge damage on local eco-systems. According to Mary Bryan, the society's chief executive officer, even seemingly small mistakes can wreak huge amounts of damage. Rains in February wreaked havoc over large areas of the southern region of the North Island, costing millions of dollars and more than 1,000 head of cattle. Residents across county Carlow woke yesterday morning to find roads completely impassable, as drifting snow wreaked havoc on routes across the region. Many in the natural sciences think that we are at a threshold of either adapting our living to the constraints of nature or wreaking incredible damage to Earth as we destroy ourselves. Welch justifiably observes that this dredging is a massive and expensive undertaking that will perhaps wreak more environmental damage than leaving the river at rest. The quake hit at about 7:45 pm on Wednesday, wreaking the worst damage in towns near Thenia, 40 miles east of Algiers, the capital. Synonyms inflict, create, cause, result in, effect, engender, bring about, perpetrate, unleash, vent, bestow, deal out, mete out, serve out, administer, carry out, deliver, apply, lay on, impose, exact rare effectuate 1.1 Inflict (vengeance) they would soon have a chance to wreak their revenge on the enemy Example sentencesExamples I'd criticized him for showing mercy and compassion where I would have wreaked a devastating vengeance. But instead of wreaking his revenge on her, he falls in love with her. On such an account, Oakes finds he is not as generously treated in the book as he might like, and consequently wreaks some vengeance. Down I rode from the Black Sea steppe to wreak vengeance on the men of Athens. There is, however, an equally strong risk that these responses may be misused and manipulated towards the perceived need to wreak vengeance. And David O'Brien's father thinks Maria is the ghost of the mythical Dubhana, come back to wreak vengeance on him. Typically in a robot film, the script eventually calls for the obliging machine to override its software program and run amok, wreaking vengeance on its masters. In the back of his mind, he believes he may corner Laeddis and wreak his vengeance on the man who caused the death of the most important person in his life. Whoever praised Frederick within the borders of his realm did so from necessity, to evade the indignation of a prince who wreaked stern vengeance upon every foe. Before the fight, Ward made it clear this would be his final bout, so he had every motivation to wreak vengeance on Gatti and end his career a winner. On her release, she promptly drops her virtuous facade, dons the red eye shadow and sets about finding Baek and wreaking her vengeance. Thus begins an adventure in which Measle finds friends, braves dangers, wreaks vengeance and discovers a happy ending. I'm not trying to say that these semi-musical melodies bother me, just that they will provide me with the ultimate way to wreak my vengeance upon all of you who disrupt my lectures. A natural urge in newly freed countries is to wreak vengeance on, or at least deny continued privileges to, the oppressors of the previous regime. The scene in which the ruined, now dissolute Robinson finally wreaks vengeance - quite by accident - is unforgettable. If Brown-Lee decides to wreak vengeance on me for sending him nasty looks across the dinner table, I might need your assistance. And so, whatever happens, let's hope we're not going to have an administration that is set up to somehow wreak vengeance on the other side. It would be a sin to wreak vengeance on the innocent, but it would be a temptation very tough to control. It is blatantly unethical to wreak vengeance upon innocent bystanders. I think he was embarrassed by being thrown out and sought to wreak revenge. 1.2archaic Avenge (someone who has been wronged) grant me some knight to wreak me for my son Example sentencesExamples Harenc wreaked him with a vengeance. Usage In the phrase wrought havoc, as in they wrought havoc on the countryside, wrought is an archaic past tense of work and is not, as is sometimes assumed, a past tense of wreak Derivatives wreaker noun The case of Bouzaglo, for example, offers a chance to examine the model of the wreaker of virtual mayhem. Example sentencesExamples There's more than a trace of Margo in Jules, the lying, desperate marriage wreaker of My Best Friend's Wedding. I guess there's something radical about wreaking havoc in a factory - but who can watch this film and not root for the wreaker? Origin Old English wrecan 'drive (out), avenge', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch wreken and German rächen; compare with wrack⁴, wreck, and wretch. wreck from Middle English: When it first appeared wreck meant ‘cargo or wreckage washed ashore from a wrecked or stranded vessel’. The word came into English from Old French wrec. The source was an Old Norse word meaning ‘to drive’ that was related to wreak, ‘to cause a lot of damage or harm’, and to rack. A person in a state of stress or emotional exhaustion has been a wreck since the 1790s and a nervous wreck since about 1870. Wretch (Old English) and wretched (Middle English) are related to wreak. Rhymes antique, batik, beak, bespeak, bezique, bleak, boutique, cacique, caïque, cheek, chic, clique, creak, creek, critique, Dominique, eke, freak, geek, Greek, hide-and-seek, keek, Lalique, leak, leek, Martinique, meek, midweek, Mozambique, Mustique, mystique, oblique, opéra comique, ortanique, peak, Peake, peek, physique, pique, pratique, reek, seek, shriek, Sikh, sleek, sneak, speak, Speke, squeak, streak, teak, technique, tongue-in-cheek, tweak, unique, veronique, weak, week Definition of wreak in US English: wreak verbrikrēk [with object] 1Cause (a large amount of damage or harm) torrential rainstorms wreaked havoc yesterday the environmental damage wreaked by ninety years of phosphate mining Example sentencesExamples According to Mary Bryan, the society's chief executive officer, even seemingly small mistakes can wreak huge amounts of damage. Residents across county Carlow woke yesterday morning to find roads completely impassable, as drifting snow wreaked havoc on routes across the region. The American signal crayfish were introduced in the 1970s to meet the demands of the restaurant trade but have since escaped into the wild to wreak huge damage on local eco-systems. Online lotteries, by their aggressive marketing techniques, had wreaked havoc on many families, especially those of daily-wage earners. The quake hit at about 7:45 pm on Wednesday, wreaking the worst damage in towns near Thenia, 40 miles east of Algiers, the capital. But when the first human settlers, the Maoris, arrived about a thousand years ago, the rats and dogs they brought with them wreaked havoc on the islands' wildlife. It is clear both sides are hoping to fight a similar war: swift and based on short, focused operations that will wreak maximum damage in the shortest possible time, with minimum casualties. Welch justifiably observes that this dredging is a massive and expensive undertaking that will perhaps wreak more environmental damage than leaving the river at rest. Then, by one o'clock, the storm moved off to wreak damage in the north. It might as well have been a million miles away from Stark's Park, where a strong swirling wind wreaked havoc on any attempts at finesse, and regularly carried players' frustrated words into the stands. The adverse weather has wreaked havoc with many of the non-national routes and damage has run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. It is 1969, and a cloistered block in west Philadelphia is shaken to its core by long kept secrets, betrayal and lies that wreak terrible damage on two families. The hurricane wreaked terrible damage on the east coast, at Miami and the Florida Keys. They're among the world's tiniest creatures, but they're wreaking enormous damage across northern Australia. Many in the natural sciences think that we are at a threshold of either adapting our living to the constraints of nature or wreaking incredible damage to Earth as we destroy ourselves. During the next few months, previously unequalled damage was wreaked upon the site. Rains in February wreaked havoc over large areas of the southern region of the North Island, costing millions of dollars and more than 1,000 head of cattle. A firestorm wreaks its terrifying damage on an estate. On the heels of the longest bull run in history, last year's down market wreaked havoc at many financial services firms. The Category 5 storm wreaked havoc, doing more than $20 billion in damage and making it by far the costliest hurricane ever in United States history. Synonyms inflict, create, cause, result in, effect, engender, bring about, perpetrate, unleash, vent, bestow, deal out, mete out, serve out, administer, carry out, deliver, apply, lay on, impose, exact 1.1 Inflict (vengeance) they would soon have a chance to wreak their revenge on the enemy Example sentencesExamples Down I rode from the Black Sea steppe to wreak vengeance on the men of Athens. On her release, she promptly drops her virtuous facade, dons the red eye shadow and sets about finding Baek and wreaking her vengeance. And David O'Brien's father thinks Maria is the ghost of the mythical Dubhana, come back to wreak vengeance on him. Before the fight, Ward made it clear this would be his final bout, so he had every motivation to wreak vengeance on Gatti and end his career a winner. Typically in a robot film, the script eventually calls for the obliging machine to override its software program and run amok, wreaking vengeance on its masters. And so, whatever happens, let's hope we're not going to have an administration that is set up to somehow wreak vengeance on the other side. I'm not trying to say that these semi-musical melodies bother me, just that they will provide me with the ultimate way to wreak my vengeance upon all of you who disrupt my lectures. Whoever praised Frederick within the borders of his realm did so from necessity, to evade the indignation of a prince who wreaked stern vengeance upon every foe. But instead of wreaking his revenge on her, he falls in love with her. On such an account, Oakes finds he is not as generously treated in the book as he might like, and consequently wreaks some vengeance. A natural urge in newly freed countries is to wreak vengeance on, or at least deny continued privileges to, the oppressors of the previous regime. Thus begins an adventure in which Measle finds friends, braves dangers, wreaks vengeance and discovers a happy ending. I think he was embarrassed by being thrown out and sought to wreak revenge. I'd criticized him for showing mercy and compassion where I would have wreaked a devastating vengeance. It would be a sin to wreak vengeance on the innocent, but it would be a temptation very tough to control. If Brown-Lee decides to wreak vengeance on me for sending him nasty looks across the dinner table, I might need your assistance. There is, however, an equally strong risk that these responses may be misused and manipulated towards the perceived need to wreak vengeance. The scene in which the ruined, now dissolute Robinson finally wreaks vengeance - quite by accident - is unforgettable. It is blatantly unethical to wreak vengeance upon innocent bystanders. In the back of his mind, he believes he may corner Laeddis and wreak his vengeance on the man who caused the death of the most important person in his life. 1.2archaic Avenge (someone who has been wronged) grant me some knight to wreak me for my son Example sentencesExamples Harenc wreaked him with a vengeance. Usage The phrase wrought havoc, as in they wrought havoc on the countryside, is an acceptable variant of wreaked havoc. Here, wrought is an archaic past tense of work. It is not, as is sometimes assumed, a past tense of wreak Origin Old English wrecan ‘drive (out), avenge’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch wreken and German rächen; compare with wrack, wreck, and wretch.
随便看	winning winning winningest winning hazard winning hazard winningly winningly winningness winningness winning post winnings winnings winningss Winnipeg Winnipegger Winnipegger Winnipeg, Lake Winnipesaukee, Lake winnow winnow-cloth winnowed winnower winnower winnowing winnowings