Synonyms of looting

looting 1 of 2

noun

as in robbery

Related Words

• robbery
• pillaging
• plundering
• raiding
• depredation
• marauding
• plunder
• despoliation
• piracy
• sacking
• despoilment
• pirating
• privateering

looting

2 of 2

verb

present participle of loot

as in plundering

to search through with the intent of committing robbery

the bandits looted the archaeological dig before riding off into the night

Synonyms & Similar Words

• plundering
• pillaging
• raiding
• sacking
• marauding
• ransacking
• despoiling
• stealing (from)
• raking
• combing
• hunting
• rummaging
• breaking in
• burglarizing
• rifling
• ripping off
• ravishing
• harrying

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of looting

Noun

Cabinet members reserve almost a fifth of the government’s vaccine stockpile for themselves, and the public reacts with mass looting and violent civil unrest. — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 25 July 2026

Efforts to prevent looting had been made even before the formation of the MFAA. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 July 2026

President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act after a generation of lobbying by educators and scientists who wanted to protect sites from commercial artifact looting and haphazard collecting by individuals. — ABC News, 13 July 2026

Racial tensions were at a boiling point, and the police raid of an after-hours nightclub sparked the flame that led to looting, the destruction of nearly 1,400 buildings, multiple fires and 43 deaths as well as 342 injuries. — USA Today, 7 July 2026

The movie continues its tradition of addressing social issues, this time focusing on human equality and colonial looting, with pointed dialogue criticizing the British Empire. — Hannah Abraham, Forbes.com, 4 July 2026

At least four people have been killed as violence and looting spread across the country, Reuters reported. — Bonny Chu, FOXNews.com, 30 June 2026

Last year, the NCMM received 113 Benin Bronzes from the Netherlands—the largest single return of Benin antiquities directly linked to the 1897 British looting, according to the commission. — Tessa Solomon, ARTnews.com, 29 June 2026

Pretoria’s memory of large-scale unrest in July 2021 — when looting and arson left hundreds dead and billions in damage — hangs over the preparations, shaping how officials and businesses are responding. — Tiisetso Motsoeneng, semafor.com, 29 June 2026

Verb

But our excitement fades as Nolan’s camera captures the men raping women, looting houses and reveling in the violence. — Brent Lang, Variety, 21 July 2026

And his version is undeniably meant to speak to us now as well as to avoid some serious turnoffs, such as Odysseus’s boasts about looting and taking slaves. — Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic, 17 July 2026

In some videos, survivors accused soldiers of looting apartments and confiscating donated supplies—claims that remain difficult to independently verify but have fueled widespread outrage. — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 29 June 2026

Mobs are looting foreigners’ shops. — Ryan Lenora Brown, Christian Science Monitor, 26 June 2026

Gordon worked with archeologists to match statues to specific sites that Toek Tik raided, mapping out looting networks. — Oscar Holland, CNN Money, 17 June 2026

Both were offered up by the same person, Marino Massimo De Caro, later convicted of looting an Italian library. — Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 8 June 2026

Police stopped the violence there that night, but more racist beatings and looting erupted downtown. — USA Today, 2 June 2026

Later on, plundering Barbary pirates raided Mallorca, looting possessions, slaughtering inhabitants and capturing others for the slave trade. — Norma Meyer, Oc Register, 27 May 2026