Spoil Definition

spoil
spoiled, spoiling, spoils, spoilt
verb
spoiled, spoiling, spoils, spoilt
To damage or injure in such a way as to make useless, valueless, etc.; destroy.
Webster's New World
To mar or impair the enjoyment, quality, or functioning of.
Rain spoiled the picnic.
Webster's New World
To harm the character of (a child) by overindulgence or leniency.
American Heritage
To pillage; plunder.
Webster's New World
To overindulge so as to cause to demand or expect too much.
Webster's New World
Antonyms:
noun
spoils
Goods, territory, etc. taken by force in war; plunder; loot; booty.
Webster's New World
Public offices to which the successful political party has the power of appointment.
Webster's New World
An object of plunder; prey.
Webster's New World
Waste material removed in making excavations, etc.
Webster's New World
The act of plundering; spoliation.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
idiom
be spoiling for a fight
  • to be aggressively eager for a fight or confrontation
Webster's New World

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Spoil

  • be spoiling for a fight

Origin of Spoil

  • Middle English spoilen to plunder from Old French espoillier from Latin spoliāre from spolium booty

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Old French espoillier, from Latin spoliāre, present active infinitive of spoliō (“pillage, ruin, spoil").

    From Wiktionary

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