| Word | Meaning | Synonyms |
| Devastate | Cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly | Ruin, Wreck, Depredate (to plunder or lay waste to; prey upon; pillage; ravage.), Ravage (to work havoc upon; damage or mar by ravages: a face ravaged by grief.), Lay waste to, Scourge |
| Enjoin | 1. Issue an injunction 2. Give instructions to or direct somebody to do something with authority/to prescribe (a course of action) with authority or emphasis: The doctor enjoined a strict diet. | Impose, restrain, order, instruct |
| Instigate | Provoke or stir up | Incite, provoke, stir up, set off, prompt, Pique (to arouse an emotion or provoke to action: to pique someone to answer a challenge/to excite (interest, curiosity, etc.) |
| Effectuate | Produce/to bring about; effect. | Bring about, Bring off, Bring on, Lead to, touch off, Stir, Induce |
| Expedite | To speed up the progress of; hasten: to expedite shipments. | Hasten |
| Preempt | 1. Acquire for oneself before others can do so 2. Take the place of or have precedence over (“live broadcast of the presidential debate preempts the regular news hour”) 3. To occupy (land) in order to establish a prior right to buy. | |
| Coerce | To cause to do through pressure or necessity, by physical, moral or intellectual means | Bulldoze, Blackjack (to compel by threat/to strike or beat with a blackjack.) |
| Extirpate | 1. to remove or destroy totally; do away with; exterminate 2. to pull up by or as if by the roots; root up: to extirpate an unwanted hair. | Stamp out, efface, annihilate, exterminate |
| Commandeer | Take arbitrarily or by force | Highjack, Arrogate, Enslave |
| Embroil | 1. To bring into discord or conflict; involve in contention or strife. 2. To throw into confusion; complicate. | Entangled, tangle, enmesh, perplex |
