pillage
verb (used with object)
to strip ruthlessly of money or goods by open violence, as in war; plunder.
were pillaging
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past progressiveof pillage.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.
Greeks who might have led decent lives tending their own crops and flocks were pillaging those of others, becoming in aggregate what Mr. O’Connell describes as “a near-perfect predator.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
“We wanted to make sure that it didn’t feel like we were pillaging the past too much for our own benefit,” Cristalli says.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 11, 2023
“They were pillaging our shit,” Gates says, speaking of the modernists, who were influenced by deliberately abstracted proportions and forms in African figural carvings, often meant to represent more than one person.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 12, 2017
My children were pillaging the garden for ripe tomatoes and fallen plums.
From New York Times ● Oct. 25, 2016
The preparations being now completed, and everything ready for the attack, those who were pillaging and destroying in the other rooms were called down to the workshop.
From Barnaby Rudge: a tale of the Riots of 'eighty by Charles Dickens
