Meaning & use
Spoiling
Last updated
Damaging or ruining something so it is no longer useful, pleasant, or valuable, or indulging someone, especially a child, to an excessive degree.
See it in a sentence
Leaving the milk out overnight ended up spoiling it.
The grandparents can't resist spoiling their grandchildren with gifts every visit.
A note on using this word
The expression "spoiling for a fight" is an unrelated idiom meaning eager to fight, likely descended from an old sense of "spoil" meaning to prepare eagerly.
Words with a similar meaning
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
preservingimproving
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