despoil
verb (used with object)
to strip of possessions, things of value, etc.; rob; plunder; pillage.
was despoiling
-
past progressiveof despoil.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
Frazier was also highly infuriated that the ostentation of the Ohtas' $250,000 hilltop house was despoiling nature.
From Time Magazine Archive
Within a short time, word came from Granville’s father that “Old Reelfoot” was despoiling his orchard.
From Our Southern Highlanders by Horace Kephart
The teacher was despoiling the tree of its pop-corn festoons and tossing them gaily about.
From The Biography of a Prairie Girl by Eleanor Gates
With a steam-loader and three camps of a hundred men each, it was despoiling the Tennessee forest.
From Our Southern Highlanders by Horace Kephart
None dreamed that this keeper of a little flock, lord over a little tent and tiller of a few acres, was the great Syrian merchant who was despoiling Mizraim.
From The Yoke A Romance of the Days when the Lord Redeemed the Children of Israel from the Bondage of Egypt by Elizabeth Miller
