# spoils

Pronunciation: say "SPOYLZ" /spɔɪlz/

## Noun

1. Goods, money, or property seized by force from a defeated enemy; plunder or booty.
   - Simple: Goods or money taken by force from an enemy after a fight or a war.
   - _The victorious army carried off the spoils of the conquered province._
   - _The pirates quarreled bitterly over how to split the spoils._
3. Public offices and their benefits treated as the rightful property of a winning party or faction, to be handed out for its own advantage.
   - Simple: Government jobs and their rewards handed out by a winning political party to its own supporters.
   - _When the party swept into power, loyal donors expected their share of the spoils._
   - _Reformers fought to end the practice of distributing government posts as spoils._
4. Waste material such as rock and earth left over from excavation, construction, mining, or dredging.
   - Simple: Dirt, rock, or other waste dug up and left over from mining, digging, or building work.
   - _The excavated spoils were piled into a great mound at the edge of the quarry._
   - _Crews loaded the dredging spoils onto barges for disposal offshore._

## Verb

2. Third person singular simple present of spoil. — third-person singular simple present indicative of spoil
   - Simple: Third person singular present of spoil. Use this form when the subject is he, she, or it.
   - _Leaving milk out of the refrigerator spoils it within hours._
   - _A single careless remark spoils the mood at dinner._

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/spoils (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).