despoil
/dɪˈspɔɪl
/verb [with object]
Steal or violently remove valuable possessions from; plunder: the church was despoiled of its marble wall covering...
- Plastic and organic waste clogs rivers, despoils the environment and fouls the seas.
- Their place in the world has been stolen; they've been despoiled of their work and their land.
- If you despoil a whole town, if you wreck the environment for thousands of people, somebody's going to describe you as an entrepreneurial genius.
Synonyms
plunder, pillage, rob, ravage, harry, maraud, ravish, rape, raid, ransack, loot, sack, rifle;
devastate, lay waste, wreak havoc on, vandalize, destroy, ruin, wreck, raze, level, annihilate, gut
rare depredate
archaic reave
rob, strip, deprive, dispossess, denude, divest, relieve, clean out
archaic reave
Derivatives
despoiler
/ noun ...- Radical environmentalists sidestep the question by declaring the despoilers of wilderness the ‘real terrorists.’
- The city is being given to the despoilers, speculators, land mafia and vandals.
- But the challenge will be to bring the urban voter in particular, along with us, so that they realise that various popular images they might have, be it of the noble farmer or be it of the farmer as an environmental despoiler are wrong.
despoilment
- It investigates zoning, despoilment, natural resources, federal, state and local policy and all manner of important issues relating to the fragile ecosystem of Hawaii, and the world.
- How could it defend itself against further despoilment by foreigners?
- Historically, the kind of drastic accumulation I encountered is a brand-new kind of despoilment.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French despoillier, from Latin despoliare 'rob, plunder' (from spolia 'spoil').