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Glite Dictionary
🤐 Plot revealer 🗳️ Vote splitter 🚗 Aero device 🍬 Overindulger 🏴‍☠️ A plunderer
spoiler

spoiler

9.5
A person who takes goods by force from people during war
  • noun
  • /ˈspɔɪlər/
  • Archaic
translation icon : saqueador
  • The army faced many challenges from the spoilers who plundered their camps during the invasion.

Examples

  • Foo! Humans! Warmongers! Animal eaters! Planet spoilers! G'wan! Beat it! Scram!

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Such is the case with The Crooked Mile, a piece of juvenilia that traces the decline of the frontier from the energetic founders and builders of the first generation to the pillagers and spoilers of the third.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • In ancient times, spoilers were known to take everything from villages they attacked.

  • After the battle, the soldiers were cautious of the spoilers that roamed the area, looking for any remaining valuables.

Synonyms

looter
vsspoiler
43 5.3

A person who steals things from shops and homes during riots or disasters

is about organized wartime taking rather than opportunistic theft
raider
vsspoiler
29 5.1

A person who enters a place to steal things by force

is more about taking captured goods than the entry method
marauder
vsspoiler
  • NSFW
16 8.8

A person who attacks places to steal things

is used for wartime taking of captured goods rather than random attacks
plunderer
vsspoiler
1 7.2

A person who steals things by force from places like shops or homes during war

focuses more on taking captured goods during war than ordinary theft
sacker
vsspoiler
  • Archaic
1 9.5

A person who attacks a town or city and steals things

is used for taking captured goods broadly rather than attacking towns
pillager
vsspoiler
1 8.1

A person who steals things from places like shops, often during war

focuses on taking captured goods in war rather than ordinary theft
freebooter
vsspoiler
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A person who steals goods during war, often from villages or ships

focuses on wartime taking rather than sea piracy or adventure
despoiler
vsspoiler
1 9.9

A person who steals valuable things by force, often during war

is broader, meaning taking captured goods in war rather than only valuables
reiver
vsspoiler
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A person who raids and steals from farms and homes in old times

is the general term used outside historical contexts for wartime taking
sackman
vsspoiler
  • Archaic
9.9

A person who steals things from towns during war

is about taking captured goods generally rather than attacking towns

Antonyms

protector
129 2.8

A person who defends and cares for another person or thing

Compounds

spoiler alert
  • Texting
7 3.9

A warning that someone will tell important story details

How Plundering

spoiler
  • Archaic
9.5
marauder
  • NSFW
16 8.8
looter
43 5.3
raider
29 5.1

Surface Forms

spoiler singular
spoilers plural

Morphology

spoiler = spoil (semi-transparent) = spoil + er

Derives from 'spoil' in the sense 'take spoils/plunder'; that sense is somewhat archaic and less familiar to learners.

Etymology

Spoiler goes back to the verb spoil, which long ago meant 'to plunder' and gave us the phrase 'spoils of war'. A spoiler was someone who took the spoils or loot, which is why it can mean a person who seizes plunder.