spoil

Plural: spoils

Noun

• (usually plural) valuables taken by violence (especially in war)
  • "to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy"
• the act of spoiling something by causing damage to it
  • "her spoiling my dress was deliberate"
• the act of stripping and taking by force
• Plunder taken from an enemy or victim.
• The act of taking plunder from an enemy or victim; spoliation, pillage, rapine.
• Material (such as rock or earth) removed in the course of an excavation, or in mining or dredging. Tailings. Such material could be utilised somewhere else.

Verb

Verb Forms: spoiled, spoilt, spoiling, spoils

• To damage, ruin, or impair the quality or value of something.
• make a mess of, destroy or ruin
• become unfit for consumption or use
  • "the meat must be eaten before it spoils"
• alter from the original
• treat with excessive indulgence
• hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of
• have a strong desire or urge to do something
  • "He is spoiling for a fight"
• destroy and strip of its possession
• make imperfect
• To strip (someone who has been killed or defeated) of arms or armour.
• To strip or deprive (someone) of possessions; to rob, despoil.
• To plunder, pillage (a city, country etc.).
• To carry off (goods) by force; to steal.
• To ruin; to damage in such a way as to make undesirable or unusable.
• To ruin the character of, by overindulgence; to coddle or pamper to excess.
• To go bad; to become sour or rancid; to decay.
• To render (a ballot) invalid by deliberately defacing.
• To prematurely reveal major events or the ending of (a story etc.); to ruin (a surprise) by exposing ahead of time as a spoiler.
• To reduce the lift generated by an airplane or wing by deflecting air upwards, usually with a spoiler.
• To be very eager (for something).

Examples

• He tried not to SPOIL the game for beginners by playing too many obscure words.
• Make sure you put the milk back in the fridge; otherwise it will spoil.

Synonyms

baby, baffle, ball up, bilk, blow, bobble, bodge, bollix, bollix up, bollocks, bollocks up, botch, botch up, bumble, bungle, cocker, coddle, corrupt, cosset, cross, deflower, despoil, despoilation, despoilment, despoliation, featherbed, flub, fluff, foil, foul up, frustrate, fuck up, fumble, go bad, impair, indulge, itch, louse up, mar, mess up, mishandle, mollycoddle, muck up, muff, pamper, plunder, queer, rape, scotch, screw up, spoilage, spoilation, spoiling, spoliation, thwart, violate, vitiate, blight, booty, bugger up, crab, damage, destroy, dirty, disrupt, disturb, gangue, jack up, mommick, pollute, put a crimp in, ruin, slag, sour, spoil, stain, tailings, turn upside down, undo, upset, upset the applecart

Antonyms

aid, bolster, cultivate, foster, hold up, nurture, prop up, support, sustain, uphold

Related Words

despoil, spoilage, spoils of war, spoilsport, spoilt, too many cooks spoil the broth