plunder

CEFRB2

/ˈplʌndə/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To steal valuable things by force during a war or attack.

  2. 02

    noun

    Goods stolen during a war or attack.

Examples

  • It is my intention to plunder and pilfer my weasely guts out.

  • They lived for deeds of daring and plunder.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
3
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /ˈplɜn-/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To take (goods) by pillage.

  2. To take by force or wrongfully; to commit robbery or looting, to raid.

  3. To pillage, take or destroy all the goods of, by force (as in war); to raid, sack.

More examples

In context

  • I've come to plunder your treasure.

  • The mercenaries plundered all the goods they found.

  • The shopkeeper was plundered of his possessions by the burglar.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The invading army began to blank the village, stealing all its treasures.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

Recorded since 1632 during the Thirty Years War, native British use since the Cromwellian Civil War. Borrowed from German plündern (“to loot”), from Middle High German, from Middle Low German plunderen, from a noun originally meaning "household goods, bedding, clothing," of obscure ultimate origin. This is first attested in medieval records, and according to Gijsseling, is therefore attested too late to be considered a substrate word. Due to the lack of obvious cognates in other languages from which it would have been loaned, it could have developed as some slang word in Lower Saxony/the Low Countries. Cognate with Dutch plunderen, West Frisian plonderje, Saterland Frisian plunnerje. Probab...