Word.ws English Dictionary

to the victor belong the spoils

to the victor belong the spoils proverb: the winner of a conflict gains additional benefits, beyond the subject of the conflict.

Proverb

to the victor belong the spoils

  1. The winner of a conflict gains additional benefits, beyond the subject of the conflict.

Forms of to the victor belong the spoils

alternative formto the victor go the spoils
alternative formthe spoils belong to the victor
alternative formto the victor the spoils
alternative formthe victor gets the spoils

Origin of to the victor belong the spoils

* "It may be, sir, that the politicians of the United States...see nothing wrong in the rule, that to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy." Senator William Learned Marcy, remarks in the Senate, January 25, 1832.

Questions about to the victor belong the spoils

What does to the victor belong the spoils mean?
To the victor belong the spoils means the winner of a conflict gains additional benefits, beyond the subject of the conflict.
What part of speech is to the victor belong the spoils?
To the victor belong the spoils is a proverb.

Words near to the victor belong the spoils in the dictionary

  1. to the tonsils
  2. to the top of one's bent
  3. to the touch
  4. to the tune of
  5. to the turn of a hair
  6. to the victor belong the spoils
  7. to the victor go the spoils
  8. to the victor the spoils
  9. to the wide
  10. to thine own self be true
  11. to think that

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: to the victor belong the spoils (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.

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