Standard Lemma guide

spoiling

noun · verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • CMU ARPABET: S P OY1 L IH0 NG Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

plunder; pillage

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • May 10, 1775, Benjamin Franklin, Proposed Preamble to a Congressional Resolution on Privateering [...] all the spoilings, thefts, burnings of houses and towns, and murders of innocent people, perpetrated by their wicked and inhuman corsairs on our coasts [...]

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

present participle and gerund of spoil

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, gerund, participle, present

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the act of spoiling something by causing damage to it

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • her spoiling my dress was deliberate

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: spoil, spoilage

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: injury

4

noun

Meaning 4

the process of becoming spoiled

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: spoilage

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: decay

Narrower terms: mildew, mold, mould, souring

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.