Word.ws English Dictionary

spoiled

/spɔɪld/

spoiled is the simple past and past participle of spoil.

Adjective

spoiled (comparative more spoiled, superlative most spoiled)

  1. That has deteriorated to the point of no longer being usable or edible.
  2. The state of being heavily pampered.
    • The child was spoiled by constant gifts.
  3. (usually a child) Having a selfish or greedy character due to pampering.
    • Both our cat and the dog are spoiled monsters and beg for food every meal.2026 July 6, @chaoskat.bsky.social, Bluesky (post), archived from the original on 06 Jul 2026

Meaning of spoil

Verb

spoil (third-person singular simple present spoils, present participle spoiling, simple past and past participle spoiled or spoilt)

  1. (archaic, transitive) To strip (someone who has been killed or defeated) of arms or armour.
  2. (archaic, transitive) To strip or deprive (someone) of possessions; to rob, despoil.
    • All that herde hym wer amased and sayde: ys nott this he that spoylled them whych called on this name in Jerusalem?1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts ix:[21]
  3. (ambitransitive, archaic) To plunder, pillage (a city, country etc.).
    • Outlaws, which, lurking in woods, used to break forth to rob and spoil.1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […]...
  4. (obsolete, transitive) To carry off (goods) by force; to steal.
    • No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 3:27
  5. (transitive) To ruin; to damage in such a way as to make undesirable or unusable.
    • All this sun spoils me for vacations in the far North.
    Synonyms:
    damage, destroy, sully, ruin
  6. (transitive) To ruin the character of, by overindulgence; to coddle or pamper to excess.

See all 14 meanings of spoil

Synonyms of spoiled

Forms of spoiled

Verb
alternative formspoilt
Adjective
comparativemore spoiled
superlativemost spoiled

Words formed from spoiled

Phrases with spoiled

Words that rhyme with spoiled

Questions about spoiled

What does spoiled mean?
Spoiled means that has deteriorated to the point of no longer being usable or edible.
What is spoiled the simple past and past participle of?
Spoiled is the simple past and past participle of spoil.
What part of speech is spoiled?
Spoiled is an adjective.
How do you pronounce spoiled?
Spoiled is pronounced /spɔɪld/.

Words near spoiled in the dictionary

  1. spoilable
  2. spoilage
  3. spoilages
  4. spoilation
  5. spoilations
  6. spoiled
  7. spoiled for choice
  8. spoiled grape juice
  9. spoiled rotten
  10. spoiled somebody rotten
  11. spoiled someone rotten

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: spoiled (page history and authors); spoil (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-spoiled.wav.

Cite this entry: “spoiled.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/spoiled. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.