English

Alternative forms

• havock (e.g. in Milton)

Noun

havoc ‎(usually uncountable, plural havocs)

1. widespread devastation, destruction
   • Bible, Acts viii. 3

     As for Saul, he made havoc of the church.

   • Addison

     Ye gods, what havoc does ambition make / Among your works!

   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The People that Time Forgot, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:

     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.

2. mayhem

Usage notes

The noun havoc is most often used in the set phrase wreak havoc.^[1]

Derived terms

• play havoc, raise havoc, wreak havoc, cry havoc, break havoc

Translations

Verb

havoc ‎(third-person singular simple present havocs, present participle havocking, simple past and past participle havocked)

1. To pillage.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act I, Scene II:

     To tear and havoc more than she can eat.

2. To cause havoc.

Usage notes

As with other verbs ending in vowel + -c, The gerund-participle is sometimes spelled havocing, and the preterite and past participle is sometimes spelled havoced; for citations using these spellings, see their respective entries. However, the spellings havocking and havocked are far more common. Compare panic, picnic.

References

1. ↑ Old Hungarian Goulash?, The Grammarphobia Blog, October 31, 2008

Interjection

havoc

1. A cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.
   • Toone

     Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt / With modest warrant.

   • Shakespeare

     Cry "havoc", and let slip the dogs of war!