pillage
5
8.1
- noun
- /ˈpɪlɪdʒ/
:
saqueo
- Once inside, these former workers faced the utter desolation that a year of abandonment and pillage had left.
Examples
-
Throughout this period, villages in this zone were constantly being threatened by warfare and pillage by Samory's armies.
Academic text (2006) -
Looters' holes pockmarked the terrain, attesting to 40 years of pillage.
Academic text (2007) -
The great power has committed suicide, and she is open to continued economic pillage.
Blog text (7) -
The Auriches, meanwhile, have little to show for all their pillage.
Academic text (2007) -
In insecure areas, the COSA members often split the medicine between their homes at night to prevent loss from pillage.
Academic text (2003) -
During the conflict, the enemy resorted to pillage, stealing valuable goods from the local villages.
-
The army's pillage of the town left its residents in despair as their homes were looted.
-
In history, many conquerors were known for engaging in pillage as they seized control of new territories.
Synonyms
749
2.3
Stealing things from people and places such as shops and banks using force or threats
356
1.1
An act of taking someone else's property without permission to keep it
72
4.9
Stealing things from shops, often during a riot or disaster
22
9.9
The violent taking and destruction of land and goods during war
19
6.1
Taking control of a ship or plane by force to steal from it
14
5.6
The act of taking things that belong to other people without permission
7
7.7
Taking things from places like shops during war or disaster
5
1.0
Taking something that belongs to another person without permission
2
6.0
The act of taking valuable things by force, often during war
2
7.9
The act of attacking people to steal from them, often done by organized gangs
1
9.2
The act of looting and destroying a place during war
1
9.9
Violent stealing of things from people, often during war
1
9.9
Taking goods by force, often during war or disorder
An act of stealing goods, often the cargo from a ship
Taking things by force from a place, often during war
Antonyms
How Violent
Surface Forms
Etymology
Pillage comes from an old French verb piller, and before that from Latin pilare 'to pluck', from pilus 'hair'. Imagine people 'plucking' things away like pulling hair, and you get the image of the violent act of stripping a place of its goods, which is why pillage means such stealing and destruction.