despoil
verb (used with object)
to strip of possessions, things of value, etc.; rob; plunder; pillage.
despoiled
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past participleof despoil.past participle
A verb form used in perfect and passive verb constructions and that can also function as a modifier.
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past tense formof despoil.past tense
Used to describe completed actions or previous habitual actions.
despoilverb (used with object)to strip of possessions, things of value, etc.; rob; plunder; pillage.
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.
Metaphors may have no place at a concentration camp, but it’s hard to look at this beautiful enclosed space and not see it, perversely, as the most despoiled of Edens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2023
Too much of Seattle has been despoiled by the greed and power of developers.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 18, 2022
The natural environment with which Native Americans had established a harmonious and symbiotic relationship, was similarly despoiled by the twin logic of expropriation and colonization that spread under the logic of manifest destiny.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 10, 2021
Tour any Caribbean island, and it becomes apparent that most of their beaches and lush forests are despoiled by plastic bottles, straws, fishing nets, plastic bags and Styrofoam containers.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 11, 2018
We find the Nandoi lands spread in a deferential semicircle round the holdings of the chief families, showing that the former had been despoiled of all their lands in the neighbourhood of the new settlement.
From The Fijians A Study of the Decay of Custom by Basil Thomson
