"Spoliate" Pronounce,Meaning And Examples

"Spoliate" Meaning

To destroy or damage something, especially documents or records, in order to conceal the truth or hide information.

"Spoliate" Examples

1. Verb usage: "to spoil" or "to destroy" (with a focus on something of value)

"During the war, the invading army intended to spoliate the museum, destroying the priceless works of art as they were a national treasure."

2. Verb usage: "to deprive of something valuable"

"In her old age, she began to feel that her grandchildren's inheritance would be spoliated due to their reckless spending habit, leaving them with nothing after her passing."

3. Legal usage: in the context of punitive actions vs. fines

"The judge decided to forgo a fine but instead opted to impose on the defendant a more severe penalty that would spoliate her assets entirely if she failed to pay restitution."

4. Literature usage: in historical contexts or ancient texts

"Many historians have studied how the Roman concept of merkmal, which deals with guilt and redemption, was gradually spoliated by the progress of Christendom, particularly during the early Christian era."

5. Art and history usage: "to strip or remove valuable parts"

"The civil war led to a period of severe spoliation of cultural sites, with looters removing valuable artifacts from their historical context and selling them on the black market."