HAVOC

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does havoc mean? 

• HAVOC (noun)
  The noun HAVOC has 1 sense:

1. violent and needless disturbance

  Familiarity information: HAVOC used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HAVOC (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Violent and needless disturbance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

havoc; mayhem

Hypernyms ("havoc" is a kind of...):

disturbance (the act of disturbing something or someone; setting something in motion)

 Context examples 

But my heart smote me when we climbed aboard and looked at the havoc he had done.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He has now and then been a sad flirt, and cared very little for the havoc he might be making in young ladies' affections.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Though just a few light-years across, it showcases the havoc that stars can wreak when they form within an interstellar cloud.

(Stellar Nursery Blooms into View, ESO)

The overabundance of ROS in human neurons appeared to cause proteins along the microtubules to oxidize, wreaking havoc with the microtubule structure.

(Researchers develop “hibernation in a dish” to study how animals adapt to the cold, National Institutes of Health)

Fifty years ago a series of great fires took place, which made terrible havoc on five separate occasions.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

This suggests that Uranus will be creating a measure of havoc, but the usual problem with Uranus is that you can never anticipate what will come—Uranus rules all things unexpected.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

With our four guns the two of us made a horrible havoc.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She began to “help” my mother next morning, and was in and out of the store-closet all day, putting things to rights, and making havoc in the old arrangements.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

New research aside, dentists have long known that gum disease can wreak havoc on the mouth.

(New Link Found between Alzheimer's & Gum Disease Bacteria, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

A small portion of material gets shot back out in powerful jets of hot gas, called plasma, that can wreak havoc on their surroundings.

(NuSTAR Probes Black Hole Jet Mystery, NASA)