spoliation

Meaning

1. (archaic, uncountable) The action of spoliating, or forcibly seizing property; pillage, plunder; also, the state of having property forcibly seized; (countable) an instance of this; a robbery, a seizure.
2. (broadly, uncountable) The action of destroying or ruining; destruction, ruin.
3. (broadly, historical, uncountable) The action of an incumbent (“holder of an ecclesiastical benefice”) wrongfully depriving another of the emoluments of a benefice.
4. (broadly, countable, historical) A lawsuit brought or writ issued by an incumbent against another, claiming that the latter has wrongfully taken the emoluments of a benefice.
5. (broadly, uncountable) The intentional destruction of, or tampering with, a document so as to impair its evidentiary value.
6. (broadly, uncountable) The systematic forcible seizure of property during a crisis or state of unrest such as that caused by war, now regarded as a crime; looting, pillage, plunder; (countable) an instance of this.
7. (broadly, historical, uncountable) The government-sanctioned action or practice of plundering neutral ships at sea; (countable) an instance of this.

Synonyms

depredation

despoilment

despoliation

pillage

robbery

spoilation

despoilation

plunder

spoil

rapine

raven

robbing

rolling

divestiture

heist

loot

snatch

mugging

pillaging

Translations

espoliação

plundering

spoliation

Plünderung

yağma

pillage

soygun

çapul

roubo

despojo

spoliazione

espoliació

expoliación

expolio

furto

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˌspəʊliˈeɪʃən/

Etymology

From Late Middle English spoliacioun (“looting, robbery, theft; an instance of this; (ecclesiastical) wrongful deprivation of the emoluments of a benefice due to another”), from Anglo-Norman spoliacioun, espolïacion, and directly from their etymon spoliātiō (“plundering, robbing”), from spoliāre (“to deprive or strip of clothing or covering, unclothe, uncover; (by extension) to pillage, plunder; etc.”), from spolium (“hide or skin stripped off an animal; (by extension) booty, spoil; etc.”). The English word was probably also influenced by French spoliation.