to spoil the market
- phrasal verb
- The influx of counterfeit products has spoiled the market for genuine brands.
Examples
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When suppliers flood the market with cheap goods, they spoil the market for quality producers.
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Unfair pricing strategies can spoil the market for honest retailers.
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And then Kong had to spoil the market.
Blog text (16)
Synonyms
To make something less good or enjoyable
To sell goods at very low prices to beat competitors
To make something seem less valuable, often by lowering its price or quality
To sell so many of a product that people stop buying more unless prices fall
Sell goods or services at a lower price than a competitor
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to harm normal market conditions' is directly derivable from combining 'spoil' (to damage) with 'market' (commerce); this is a straightforward verb + noun compositional pattern. The determiner 'the' is semantically light and does not obscure meaning, and similar constructions exist cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner knowing the constituents should understand it.
Etymology
The phrase spoil the market likely comes from open-air sellers whose bad or rotten goods would spoil on their stalls and make customers avoid the whole market. So, it now means 'to harm market conditions or lower the value'.