despoil
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
- despoiler noun
- despoilment noun
- undespoiled adjective
Etymology
Origin of despoil
1175–1225; Middle English despoilen < Old French despoillier < Latin dēspoliāre to strip, rob, plunder, equivalent to dē- de- + spoliāre to plunder; spoil
Explanation
Despoil is to spoil, only worse. You may spoil a dinner party by being late, but we all despoil the earth with pollution and over-consumption. The Latin root of despoil meant "to strip or rob" and although despoil is used more broadly now, it has that sense within it. When we despoil the earth, we rob it of its beauty and strip it of its natural resources. In the same way, an invading army might despoil a village, wrecking houses and stealing valuables.
Vocabulary lists containing despoil
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Lyndon B. Johnson on "The Great Society" (1964)
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Tolkien Reading Day, List 6
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Today, that environmental perspective, that sense of how we humans continue to despoil our planet in an ever more fossil-fuelized and dangerous fashion, is simply inescapable.
From Salon • Dec. 9, 2023
The slightest mistake would despoil the land and the waters, and America has seen plenty of such mistakes over the years.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 5, 2023
That measure is opposed by members of the local Mura tribe, who say mining would despoil the natural habitat upon which they depend.
From Reuters • Mar. 23, 2022
Using “ANWR” denies the refuge’s deeply wild character and serves those who would despoil this “last great wilderness.”
From Washington Post • Jan. 7, 2022
Yet we have made the vow; and though no other human generation hath done other than despoil, perhaps we shall be the first.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
