as in plundering
Related Words
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Dissimilar Words
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
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for despoiling
Noun
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It was revealed during that trial that Low's plundering of the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund exceeded $4 billion.—
Ryan Coleman,
Entertainment Weekly,
20 Nov. 2025 -
Aron Solomon on how the Meta AI copyright decision made libraries sitting ducks for AI plundering.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 June 2025
Verb
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Certainly, its portrait of a futuristic society dominated by raping, pillaging youth gangs speaking a bizarre Russian-English hybrid slang struck a few different nerves — as did its tale of one teenage sociopath’s questionable reprogramming back into society after a stint in prison.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
31 Dec. 2025
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More than a dozen others immediately flooded the shattered entrance, pillaging the place — breaking display cases and grabbing thousands of dollars in jewelry.—
Jakob Rodgers,
Mercury News,
22 Dec. 2025
Noun
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There were fights and looting, and by the afternoon, a fire was set at a shop on West Madison Street, according to the documentary notes.—
Adam Harrington,
CBS News,
4 Feb. 2026
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And, as bad as all that looting was, the wealth that remained in Congo constituted only a small percentage of what was being made on markets globally, and from the technology those minerals powered.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
22 Jan. 2026
Verb
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But their deployment, marauding the streets of American communities, operating with military posture and lethal force, supersedes that mission and strikes at the heart of constitutional governance.—
Larry Pino,
The Orlando Sentinel,
1 Feb. 2026
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In this instance, the protests were combined with citizen surveillance of marauding federal agents, primarily through the use of smartphone recordings.—
Peter Wehner,
The Atlantic,
29 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The people who've made it out are telling us horror stories of mass killings, of rape and pillage of women and families.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
9 Nov. 2025
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Vikings, for example, used the extra daylight to sneak in a longer pillage sesh.—
Corey Buhay,
Outside Online,
19 June 2025
Verb
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The Seattle defense, which nicknamed itself the Dark Side, lived in quarterback Drake Maye’s face, sacking him six times and harassing him into three turnovers.—
Jerry Brewer,
New York Times,
9 Feb. 2026
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Seattle swarmed quarterback Drake Maye all game, sacking him six times and forcing three turnovers, leaving New England scoreless through the first three quarters.—
Kayla Hayempour,
NBC news,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
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After more than a century of plunder and strife, under tyrants as diverse as King Leopold II of Belgium and Mobutu Sese Seko, the present-day DRC still occupies the dark heart of the continent in much of the world’s imagination.—
Holden Frith,
TheWeek,
9 Jan. 2026
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The Venezuelan regime is broadly unpopular in Latin America; its socialism of plunder has sent millions of desperate people into Colombia and other states.—
David Frum,
The Atlantic,
3 Jan. 2026
Noun
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In October 2024, 20 mountain lions were killed through depredation permits statewide, the DFW reported.—
Steve Scauzillo,
Daily News,
28 Jan. 2026
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Wolf depredation in Cochise County last summer resulted in the relocation of a pack from southern Arizona to captivity in New Mexico.—
Sarah Henry,
AZCentral.com,
23 Jan. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Despoiling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/despoiling. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.
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