looted

past tense of loot
as in plundered
to search through with the intent of committing robbery the bandits looted the archaeological dig before riding off into the night

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of looted But his house had been looted, his belongings, including two decades’ worth of journals, redistributed or destroyed. Rachel Aviv, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026 The drum topped a list of 148 objects that Côte d’Ivoire requested from France in 2019; the petition followed French President Emmanuel Macron’s 2017 pledge to return works of art looted in Africa during the colonial era. Anne Doran, ARTnews.com, 10 Aug. 2026 Los Angeles County deputies say that an AutoZone in East Los Angeles was found looted early Saturday morning, near the spot where a street takeover had taken place. Dean Fioresi, CBS News, 9 Aug. 2026 And in May, the Musée D'Orsay in Paris opened a permanent gallery dedicated to paintings and sculptures by the likes of Degas, Rodin and Renoir that are thought to have been looted. Chloe Veltman, NPR, 9 Aug. 2026 In addition to missile targeting, Russia has also looted thousands of Ukrainian cultural objects since the beginning of the war. News Desk, Artforum, 7 Aug. 2026 Towns on the region’s fertile lowlands, once inhabited by Azerbaijani farmers and traders, were abandoned, then they were looted, landmined and turned into military buffer zones. Literary Hub, 30 July 2026 The sculptures were among 34 Southeast Asian antiquities voluntarily relinquished by the collector in 2021 after investigators determined they had been looted. ABC News, 23 July 2026 Weapons and gear will be looted throughout the run, but cannot be extracted. Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for looted
Verb
  • The class-action deal covers relatives of people who donated bodies between January 2018 and March 2023, amid uncertainty over which cadavers Lodge plundered before cremation or return to families.
    Leah Willingham, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2026
  • There is depth and detail that can be navigated and known, probed and plundered for rewards — and the best way to do all of that is with a manual telescope.
    Jamie Carter, Space.com, 18 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • But Nolan also throws a meditative new wrinkle into the story, as Odysseus comes to grips with his role in the Trojan War, leading the charge as his men raped, murdered and pillaged in his name.
    Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 18 July 2026
  • For decades, tomb raiders have pillaged sites across the country, selling them on the black market.
    Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN Money, 19 June 2026
Verb
  • Come the end of the season, Frank had been sacked and Tottenham only just stayed up.
    Michael Cox, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2026
  • The Jayhawks trailed by six and got the ball at their 11 with 17 seconds left, but Missouri sealed the 36-28 victory with a safety when Lorenzo Williams sacked Reesing in the end zone.
    Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 25 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • That summer, Detroit was paralyzed by a violent uprising, which erupted after the city’s predominantly white police force raided a night club in a Black neighborhood.
    Rozina Ali, New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Court records show that only one of the suits, on behalf of a woman and three children whose apartment was allegedly raided three separate times, remains open.
    Caroline Kubzansky, Chicago Tribune, 19 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • One looks to the story of the Haitian World Cup team, appearing in the tournament for the first time in fifty years, which has gathered expatriate players from the Haitian diaspora to play for that beautiful and utterly despoiled country, where many of them have never lived.
    Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 21 June 2026
  • In the 21st century, oil extraction has become a serious threat to Ecuadoran Amazonia, with large swaths of forest, often located in Indigenous territories, despoiled by the release of wastewater from the wells.
    Stanley Stewart, Travel + Leisure, 10 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • Thieves ransacked Spain‘s Villena Museum, taking with them one of Europe’s most significant Bronze Age gold collections in a record four-minute heist on Thursday morning, the Guardian reported.
    Hikmat Mohammed, ARTnews.com, 27 Aug. 2026
  • In the days after a group of South Florida friends were killed in a helicopter crash in Kenya, burglars ransacked the Coral Gables home of two of the dead, stealing more than $500,000 worth of artwork, jewelry and the couple’s cars, police say.
    David Goodhue, Miami Herald, 26 Aug. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Looted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/looted. Accessed 30 Aug. 2026.

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