MEANING
To rob a place or person of valuable things, often causing damage.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- despoil a shrine
- despoil a landscape
On the page
The soldiers despoiled the shrine before the villagers returned.
A century of quarrying had despoiled the valley's northern slope.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- despoil
- Past tense
- despoiled
- Past participle
- despoiled
- Present participle
- despoiling
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- despoil
- Present continuous
- am/is/are despoiling
- Present perfect
- have/has despoiled
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been despoiling
- Past
- despoiled
- Past continuous
- was/were despoiling
- Past perfect
- had despoiled
- Past perfect continuous
- had been despoiling
- Future
- will despoil
- Future continuous
- will be despoiling
- Future perfect
- will have despoiled
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been despoiling
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary. Forms: despoil; despoils; despoiled; despoiled; despoiling Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: despoils.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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