as in to inflict
to cause to suffer punishment or vengeance for
wreaked their vengeance on those they considered enemies
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Recent Examples of wreak
Farr’s living in the Los Angeles area has also brought her close-up views of the havoc that wildfires can wreak.
—
Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes.com, 12 May 2025
Canada lands at Cannes with a mission to shift the conversation — on the Croisette, at least — from the havoc U.S. tariffs could wreak on the global film industry to the benefits of creative collaboration and co-production with Canadian talent and companies.
—Jennie Punter, Variety, 15 May 2025
The film rocketed back in time to show the havoc the creature wreaked on a group of Native Americans in the Great Plains during the 18th century.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 24 Apr. 2025
After facing some opposition to its revisionist agenda in multilateral forums, Moscow may also reassess its diplomatic strategy, based in part on how much havoc the United States itself will wreak in those institutions.
—Hanna Notte, Foreign Affairs, 27 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for wreak
Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes.com, 12 May 2025
Canada lands at Cannes with a mission to shift the conversation — on the Croisette, at least — from the havoc U.S. tariffs could wreak on the global film industry to the benefits of creative collaboration and co-production with Canadian talent and companies.
—Jennie Punter, Variety, 15 May 2025
The film rocketed back in time to show the havoc the creature wreaked on a group of Native Americans in the Great Plains during the 18th century.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 24 Apr. 2025
After facing some opposition to its revisionist agenda in multilateral forums, Moscow may also reassess its diplomatic strategy, based in part on how much havoc the United States itself will wreak in those institutions.
—Hanna Notte, Foreign Affairs, 27 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for wreak
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wreak
Verb
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But so far, Trump has taken no action, and Russia continued to inflict pain on Ukraine as well.—
Shannon K. Kingston,
ABC News,
2 June 2025
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Nothing can justify the number of civilian casualties (tens of thousands of women and children) inflicted by Israel in Gaza in the last two years.—
Anna Commander,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 May 2025
Verb
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In that case, West Virginia challenged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s authority to impose regulations to effectively control the state's energy policy through the Clean Power Plan.—
Zoltan Istvan,
MSNBC Newsweek,
28 May 2025
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Both armies have a small industry devoted to ‘hacking’ the drones, modifying the firmware to get around limitations imposed by the makers and prevent them from being tracked.—
David Hambling,
Forbes.com,
28 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Wreak.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wreak. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
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