spoliation

English

Etymology

From Latin spoliatio

Noun

spoliation (countable and uncountable, plural spoliations)

1. (archaic) The act of plundering or spoiling; robbery

   Synonyms: deprivation, despoliation

   • 1852, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, ch. 1:

     In trickery, evasion, procrastination, spoliation, botheration, under false pretences of all sorts, there are influences that can never come to good.

2. Robbery or plunder in times of war; especially, the authorized act or practice of plundering neutrals at sea.
3. (law) The intentional destruction of or tampering with (a document) in such way as to impair evidentiary effect.

Derived terms

• writ of spoliation

Related terms

• despoil
• despolation
• spoil
• spoliate
• spoliative
• spoliator
• spoliatory
• spolium

Translations

plundering

• Dutch: plundering (nl)
• Portuguese: espoliação (pt) f

• Spanish: despojo (es) m, expoliación (es)

authorized plundering

• Dutch: vrijbuiterij

destruction of evidence

• Dutch: bewijsvernietiging

References

• spoliation in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• spoliation in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

• isopointal, positional

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French

Noun

spoliation f (plural spoliations)

1. spoliation