🗑️ Destruction of evidence 🏴‍☠️ Plundering

spoliation

1 9.9

Taking goods by force, often during war or disorder

noun
/ˌspoʊliˈeɪʃən/

: despojo

Local officials were arrested for their role in the spoliation of public lands for personal gain.

Examples

I'm also concerned to see (from a distance) the spoliation of a once beautiful land.

Blog text (7)
The spoliation of the village during the war left many without homes.
Activists protested against the spoliation of natural resources by illegal mining operations.

Synonyms

looting

vsspoliation

54 4.9

Stealing things from shops, often during a riot or disaster

is broader and covers forced taking regardless of public disorder

spoil

vsspoliation

31 7.8

Valuable things taken by force, often during war

is the action of seizing property rather than naming the goods

pillaging

vsspoliation

4 7.7

Taking things from places like shops during war or disaster

is broader and applies to forced taking beyond wartime

plundering

vsspoliation

2 6.0

The act of taking valuable things by force, often during war

is broader and covers forced taking in any wrongful situation

despoliation

vsspoliation

1 9.9

A violent taking of valuable things from a place like a temple or forest

is the same action term but expressed with another variant

despoilation

vsspoliation

1 9.9

Violent stealing and damage of things from a place

is the same concept but used as a different variant form

despoilment

vsspoliation

1 9.8

The forceful taking of things like money, land or trees that causes damage

is the same idea but formed with a different ending

spoilation

vsspoliation

Archaic

1 9.9

Taking things by force from a place, often during war

is the same meaning but written with an alternate spelling

plunderage

vsspoliation

9.9

An act of stealing goods, often the cargo from a ship

is general and applies to forced taking in many settings

Antonyms

protection

∞ 1.0

Keeping people or things safe from harm

restoration

117 3.4

The act of returning something to its original state

How Forceful

to pillage

34 8.1

spoliation

1 9.9

looting

54 4.9

robbery

631 2.3

theft

338 1.1

Surface Forms

spoliation singular

spoliations plural

Morphology

spoliation = spoil (transparent) = spoil + ation

Directly formed from the verb 'spoil' with the nominalizing suffix '-ation' to denote the act of spoiling or plundering.

Etymology

The word spoliation comes from the Latin verb spoliare, meaning 'to take by force' or 'to strip', and it is the same root as the everyday word spoil and the phrase spoils of war. So spoliation can mean plundering or taking goods as 'spoils', which explains its modern sense of wrongful or damaging removal of property.