| spoil | | |
| n. (possession) | 1. spoil | (usually plural) valuables taken by violence (especially in war).; "to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy" |
| ~ plural, plural form | the form of a word that is used to denote more than one. |
| ~ stolen property | property that has been stolen. |
| n. (act) | 2. spoil, spoilage, spoiling | the act of spoiling something by causing damage to it.; "her spoiling my dress was deliberate" |
| ~ injury | an act that causes someone or something to receive physical damage. |
| n. (act) | 3. despoilation, despoilment, despoliation, spoil, spoilation, spoliation | the act of stripping and taking by force. |
| ~ pillaging, plundering, pillage | the act of stealing valuable things from a place.; "the plundering of the Parthenon"; "his plundering of the great authors" |
| v. (social) | 4. ball up, blow, bobble, bodge, bollix, bollix up, bollocks, bollocks up, botch, botch up, bumble, bungle, flub, fluff, foul up, fuck up, fumble, louse up, mess up, mishandle, muck up, muff, screw up, spoil | make a mess of, destroy or ruin.; "I botched the dinner and we had to eat out"; "the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement" |
| ~ go wrong, miscarry, fail | be unsuccessful.; "Where do today's public schools fail?"; "The attempt to rescue the hostages failed miserably" |
| v. (change) | 5. go bad, spoil | become unfit for consumption or use.; "the meat must be eaten before it spoils" |
| ~ addle | become rotten.; "addled eggs" |
| ~ curdle | go bad or sour.; "The milk curdled" |
| ~ decay | undergo decay or decomposition.; "The body started to decay and needed to be cremated" |
| v. (change) | 6. corrupt, spoil | alter from the original. |
| ~ modify | make less severe or harsh or extreme.; "please modify this letter to make it more polite"; "he modified his views on same-gender marriage" |
| ~ adulterate, dilute, debase, load, stretch | corrupt, debase, or make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance; often by replacing valuable ingredients with inferior ones.; "adulterate liquor" |
| v. (social) | 7. baby, cocker, coddle, cosset, featherbed, indulge, mollycoddle, pamper, spoil | treat with excessive indulgence.; "grandparents often pamper the children"; "Let's not mollycoddle our students!" |
| ~ do by, treat, handle | interact in a certain way.; "Do right by her"; "Treat him with caution, please"; "Handle the press reporters gently" |
| v. (social) | 8. baffle, bilk, cross, foil, frustrate, queer, scotch, spoil, thwart | hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of.; "What ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth's amazing September surge"; "foil your opponent" |
| ~ disappoint, let down | fail to meet the hopes or expectations of.; "Her boyfriend let her down when he did not propose marriage" |
| ~ foreclose, forestall, preclude, prevent, forbid | keep from happening or arising; make impossible.; "My sense of tact forbids an honest answer"; "Your role in the projects precludes your involvement in the competitive project" |
| ~ dash | destroy or break.; "dashed ambitions and hopes" |
| ~ short-circuit | hamper the progress of; impede.; "short-circuit warm feelings" |
| ~ ruin | destroy or cause to fail.; "This behavior will ruin your chances of winning the election" |
| v. (emotion) | 9. itch, spoil | have a strong desire or urge to do something.; "She is itching to start the project"; "He is spoiling for a fight" |
| ~ desire, want | feel or have a desire for; want strongly.; "I want to go home now"; "I want my own room" |
| v. (contact) | 10. despoil, plunder, rape, spoil, violate | destroy and strip of its possession.; "The soldiers raped the beautiful country" |
| ~ ruin, destroy | destroy completely; damage irreparably.; "You have ruined my car by pouring sugar in the tank!"; "The tears ruined her make-up" |
| v. (change) | 11. deflower, impair, mar, spoil, vitiate | make imperfect.; "nothing marred her beauty" |
| ~ damage | inflict damage upon.; "The snow damaged the roof"; "She damaged the car when she hit the tree" |
| ~ defile, sully, taint, corrupt, cloud | place under suspicion or cast doubt upon.; "sully someone's reputation" |
| ~ blemish, deface, disfigure | mar or spoil the appearance of.; "scars defaced her cheeks"; "The vandals disfigured the statue" |
| seize | | |
| v. (contact) | 1. clutch, prehend, seize | take hold of; grab.; "The sales clerk quickly seized the money on the counter"; "She clutched her purse"; "The mother seized her child by the arm"; "Birds of prey often seize small mammals" |
| ~ nab | seize suddenly. |
| ~ rack | seize together, as of parallel ropes of a tackle in order to prevent running through the block. |
| ~ claw | clutch as if in panic.; "She clawed the doorknob" |
| ~ get hold of, take | get into one's hands, take physically.; "Take a cookie!"; "Can you take this bag, please" |
| ~ arrest, collar, apprehend, cop, nab, nail, pick up | take into custody.; "the police nabbed the suspected criminals" |
| ~ capture, catch, get | succeed in catching or seizing, especially after a chase.; "We finally got the suspect"; "Did you catch the thief?" |
| ~ collar | seize by the neck or collar. |
| ~ clasp | grasp firmly.; "The child clasped my hands" |
| ~ grip | hold fast or firmly.; "He gripped the steering wheel" |
| ~ grab | take or grasp suddenly.; "She grabbed the child's hand and ran out of the room" |
| ~ grab, take hold of, catch | take hold of so as to seize or restrain or stop the motion of.; "Catch the ball!"; "Grab the elevator door!" |
| ~ snatch, snatch up, snap | to grasp hastily or eagerly.; "Before I could stop him the dog snatched the ham bone" |
| ~ clench, clinch | hold in a tight grasp.; "clench a steering wheel" |
| ~ grapple, grip | to grip or seize, as in a wrestling match.; "the two men grappled with each other for several minutes" |
| v. (contact) | 2. seize | take or capture by force.; "The terrorists seized the politicians"; "The rebels threaten to seize civilian hostages" |
| ~ raven | obtain or seize by violence. |
| ~ wrest | obtain by seizing forcibly or violently, also metaphorically.; "wrest the knife from his hands"; "wrest a meaning from the old text"; "wrest power from the old government" |
| ~ get hold of, take | get into one's hands, take physically.; "Take a cookie!"; "Can you take this bag, please" |
| ~ abduct, kidnap, nobble, snatch | take away to an undisclosed location against their will and usually in order to extract a ransom.; "The industrialist's son was kidnapped" |
| ~ commandeer, highjack, hijack, pirate | take arbitrarily or by force.; "The Cubans commandeered the plane and flew it to Miami" |
| v. (possession) | 3. appropriate, capture, conquer, seize | take possession of by force, as after an invasion.; "the invaders seized the land and property of the inhabitants"; "The army seized the town"; "The militia captured the castle" |
| ~ take over, usurp, arrogate, seize, assume | seize and take control without authority and possibly with force; take as one's right or possession.; "He assumed to himself the right to fill all positions in the town"; "he usurped my rights"; "She seized control of the throne after her husband died" |
| ~ carry | capture after a fight.; "The troops carried the town after a brief fight" |
| v. (possession) | 4. attach, confiscate, impound, seize, sequester | take temporary possession of as a security, by legal authority.; "The FBI seized the drugs"; "The customs agents impounded the illegal shipment"; "The police confiscated the stolen artwork" |
| ~ take | take into one's possession.; "We are taking an orphan from Romania"; "I'll take three salmon steaks" |
| ~ condemn | appropriate (property) for public use.; "the county condemned the land to build a highway" |
| ~ sequester | requisition forcibly, as of enemy property.; "the estate was sequestered" |
| ~ garnish, garnishee | take a debtor's wages on legal orders, such as for child support.; "His employer garnished his wages in order to pay his debt" |
| ~ distrain | confiscate by distress. |
| v. (possession) | 5. arrogate, assume, seize, take over, usurp | seize and take control without authority and possibly with force; take as one's right or possession.; "He assumed to himself the right to fill all positions in the town"; "he usurped my rights"; "She seized control of the throne after her husband died" |
| ~ take | take by force.; "Hitler took the Baltic Republics"; "The army took the fort on the hill" |
| ~ annex | take (territory) as if by conquest.; "Hitler annexed Lithuania" |
| ~ appropriate, conquer, seize, capture | take possession of by force, as after an invasion.; "the invaders seized the land and property of the inhabitants"; "The army seized the town"; "The militia captured the castle" |
| ~ preoccupy | occupy or take possession of beforehand or before another or appropriate for use in advance.; "the army preoccupied the hills" |
| ~ hijack | seize control of.; "they hijacked the judicial process" |
| ~ raid | take over (a company) by buying a controlling interest of its stock.; "T. Boone Pickens raided many large companies" |
| v. (contact) | 6. seize | hook by a pull on the line.; "strike a fish" |
| ~ hook | catch with a hook.; "hook a fish" |
| v. (cognition) | 7. clutch, get hold of, seize | affect.; "Fear seized the prisoners"; "The patient was seized with unbearable pains"; "He was seized with a dreadful disease" |
| ~ overwhelm, sweep over, whelm, overpower, overcome, overtake | overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli. |
| v. (cognition) | 8. grab, seize | capture the attention or imagination of.; "This story will grab you"; "The movie seized my imagination" |
| ~ fascinate, intrigue | cause to be interested or curious. |
| usurp | | |
| v. (social) | 1. usurp | take the place of.; "gloom had usurped mirth at the party after the news of the terrorist act broke" |
| ~ supercede, supersede, supervene upon, supplant, replace | take the place or move into the position of.; "Smith replaced Miller as CEO after Miller left"; "the computer has supplanted the slide rule"; "Mary replaced Susan as the team's captain and the highest-ranked player in the school" |
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