DESPOIL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does despoil mean? 

• DESPOIL (verb)
  The verb DESPOIL has 2 senses:

1. steal goods; take as spoils

2. destroy and strip of its possession

  Familiarity information: DESPOIL used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DESPOIL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they despoil    ... he / she / it despoils   
Past simple: despoiled   
Past participle: despoiled   
-ing form: despoiling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Steal goods; take as spoils

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

despoil; foray; loot; pillage; plunder; ransack; reave; rifle; strip

Context example:

During the earthquake people looted the stores that were deserted by their owners

Hypernyms (to "despoil" is one way to...):

take (take by force)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "despoil"):

deplume; displume (strip of honors, possessions, or attributes)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

despoiler (someone who takes spoils or plunder (as in war))

despoilment; despoliation (the act of stripping and taking by force)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Destroy and strip of its possession

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

despoil; plunder; rape; spoil; violate

Context example:

The soldiers raped the beautiful country

Hypernyms (to "despoil" is one way to...):

destroy; ruin (destroy completely; damage irreparably)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

despoilment; despoliation (the act of stripping and taking by force)

 Context examples 

You pull down, you despoil; but they build up, they restore.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A lynx's lair is not despoiled with impunity.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

A cold stormy rain set in, and nothing of July appeared but in the trees and shrubs, which the wind was despoiling, and the length of the day, which only made such cruel sights the longer visible.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)