spoils
Britishplural noun
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(sometimes singular) valuables seized by violence, esp in war
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the rewards and benefits of public office regarded as plunder for the winning party or candidate See also spoils system
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.
Should the 24k spoils of Kennedy’s monetization bother me so much?
From Slate • May 10, 2026
To the loser of the 6 a.m. sun-lounger race, goes the lawsuit spoils.
From MarketWatch • May 7, 2026
The potential spoils from prediction markets haven’t done much to help DraftKings.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 4, 2026
Carter’s administration instituted the most sweeping reforms of the civil service since 1883’s Pendleton Act, which replaced the spoils system and created a professional, merit-based system.
From Salon • Feb. 15, 2026
He’d tug at my father’s pant legs during church sermons, roam the shadows of restaurant tables, publicly address his mother by her given name: all these spoils of our American life.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
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.
