despoiling 1 of 2

despoiling

2 of 2

verb

present participle of despoil
as in pillaging
to search through with the intent of committing robbery the burglars despoiled the art museum in search of treasures they thought they could sell to a fence

Synonyms & Similar Words

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for despoiling
Noun
  • These are curated from the titles that were most frequently picked up in the Criterion Closet, that magical room full of the company’s releases that visiting filmmakers and luminaries are invited to peruse and pillage.
    Vulture Staff, Vulture, 15 Nov. 2024
  • At only 6 years old, Esai Reed has endured three emergency evacuations from orphanages across Haiti as gangs pillage and plunder their way through once peaceful communities.
    Dánica Coto, The Christian Science Monitor, 23 Sep. 2024
Noun
  • Swiss zoologists, botanists, engineers, priests and nuns from missionary societies, merchants and rentier businesspeople, warlords and mercenaries ventured out to participate in plunder and looting as adjuncts or sidekicks of the stronger world powers and financiers.
    Percy Zvomuya, Artforum, 1 Nov. 2024
  • Major museums in the West devoted to the presentation and preservation of art objects have fitfully begun acknowledging their ties to histories of violence and plunder.
    Leslie Camhi, The New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2024
Verb
  • Dallas sacking Washington’s quarterbacks six times — Daniels four times — on Sunday upped the Commanders’ allowed sacks total to 22 over the last five games.
    Ben Standig, The Athletic, 5 Jan. 2025
  • Dallas sacking Washington’s quarterbacks six times — Daniels four times — on Sunday upped the Commanders’ allowed sacks total to 22 over the last five games.
    Ben Standig, The Athletic, 5 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • That amounts to spoliation, the defense claims, and should result in the dismissal of the charges against Trump.
    Perry Stein, Washington Post, 30 June 2024
  • The West should also prepare for a Russia that inflicts even greater spoliation on a global scale—but not drive it to do so.
    Stephen Kotkin, Foreign Affairs, 18 Apr. 2024
Noun
  • This distinctive bird was another victim of rat predation, vanishing within a few years of the rats’ arrival.
    Scott Travers, Forbes, 9 Jan. 2025
  • The threats to their survival range from habitat loss to predation and disease.
    Alexa Robles-Gil, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Dec. 2024
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Thesaurus Entries Near despoiling

Cite this Entry

“Despoiling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/despoiling. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.

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