despoil
verb
transitive verb
Synonyms
- loot
- maraud
- pillage
- plunder
- ransack
- sack
Example Sentences
Ed Yong, The Atlantic, 13 June 2022 Even a comparative smidgen of methane can despoil the climate. Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, 28 Oct. 2021 The 2008 financial crisis exposed the economic folly and moral bankruptcy of a system that relied on bribing executives with stock options to squeeze workers, bamboozle customers, despoil the environment and dodge taxes. Washington Post, 5 Oct. 2020 Farm Aid, like other companies, has rejected non-organic cotton that requires extensive use of synthetic fertilizers, soil additives, defoliants and other chemicals that despoil the land. Billboard, 21 Sep. 2020 Ms Ellmann mourns ecosystems despoiled by modern humankind. The Economist, 24 Oct. 2019 Here in a primitive wilderness despoiled by European invaders, where black men and women are rounded up, murdered and hanged from trees, a much farther-reaching tragedy comes into startling focus. San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Aug. 2019 Here in a primitive wilderness despoiled by European invaders, where black men and women are rounded up, murdered and hanged from trees, a much farther-reaching tragedy comes into startling focus. San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Aug. 2019 Here in a primitive wilderness despoiled by European invaders, where black men and women are rounded up, murdered and hanged from trees, a much farther-reaching tragedy comes into startling focus. San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Aug. 2019 See More Word History
Middle English despoylen, from Anglo-French despoiller, from Latin despoliare, from de- + spoliare to strip, rob — more at spoil entry 1
14th century, in the meaning defined above
despoil
verb
Synonyms & Similar Words
- plunder
- pillage
- loot
- maraud
- sack
- ransack
- raid
- rake
- ravish
- comb
- burglarize
- rifle
- break in
- steal (from)
- rummage
- hunt
- harry
- rip off
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of despoil are devastate, pillage, ravage, sack, and waste. While all these words mean "to lay waste by plundering or destroying," despoil applies to looting or robbing without suggesting accompanying destruction.
The words devastate and despoil can be used in similar contexts, but devastate implies the complete ruin and desolation of a wide area.
Pillage implies ruthless plundering at will but without the completeness suggested by sack.
The meanings of ravage and despoil largely overlap; however, ravage implies violent often cumulative depredation and destruction.
The words sack and despoil are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, sack implies carrying off all valuable possessions from a place.
Although the words waste and despoil have much in common, waste may imply producing the same result by a slow process rather than sudden and violent action.