as in plundering
to search through with the intent of committing robbery
soldiers pillaging the countryside for anything of value
Synonyms & Similar Words
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as in looting
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of pillaging
Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 14 Aug. 2025
Alan Bradley, Space.com, 7 Oct. 2025
Verb
Amid the pillaging of homes, Roman magistrates were likely sent to the city to prevent an anarchic type of existence, based on ancient literary sources the authors referenced in the study.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 14 Aug. 2025
Noun
If peaceable trading isn't your dream, consider the corsair life, pillaging other ships for their precious cargo.
—Alan Bradley, Space.com, 7 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pillaging
Verb
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While plundering a dungeon lair and stealing artifacts from a museum both have heist elements to them, Skullduggery looks into the other intrigues of adventures in urban environments.—
Rob Wieland,
Forbes.com,
11 Sep. 2025
-
The store released a black-and-white video showing the thieves, which appears to be at least four suspects, plundering the business.—
Natalie Neysa Alund,
USA Today,
8 Aug. 2025
Noun
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According to food-security experts, extreme malnutrition in Gaza, already high, skyrocketed after GHF took over; according to Netanyahu, the foundation failed to prevent looting by Hamas.—
Hana Kiros,
The Atlantic,
27 Oct. 2025
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The falls could become a place of learning, not of looting, as park manager Troy McCormick put it in 1994.—
Leo Bertucci,
Louisville Courier Journal,
25 Oct. 2025
Verb
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They were ambushed, and Pauline was killed by stray gunfire from marauding mobsters hell-bent on killing Buford.—
Kirsten Fiscus,
The Tennessean,
9 Sep. 2025
-
Great Britain continues to mourn MP Jo Cox, stabbed and shot to death last Thursday on the first anniversary of white supremacist Dylann Roof’s marauding at the Emanuel Church in Charleston.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
21 June 2016
Noun
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Beccuau said the gang involved in the robbery could be bigger than the four people caught on CCTV, according to the BBC.—
Becca Longmire,
PEOPLE,
30 Oct. 2025
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Officers were in the area investigating a robbery at a nearby luxury boutique and had partially closed the roadway, according to court documents.—
Stepheny Price,
FOXNews.com,
30 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Losing to Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup led Amorim to discuss his long-term future at United, but senior executives have little appetite for sacking yet another head coach.—
Carl Anka,
New York Times,
19 Oct. 2025
-
The defensive line took advantage of a weak Auburn O-line, sacking Arnold five times.—
Maddie Hartley,
Kansas City Star,
19 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Under the administration of then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a 2008 crackdown on the area’s counterfeiters — with federal agents and police raiding 32 vendors selling knockoff luxury goods — led to $1 million worth of counterfeit goods being seized.—
Rosemary Feitelberg,
Footwear News,
22 Oct. 2025
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While many consider the mammal a nuisance for raiding garbage cans and damaging property, raccoons can also carry diseases, and they probably shouldn't be kept as housepets.—
Marina Johnson,
Louisville Courier Journal,
3 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Federal wildlife agents confirmed the two depredation events, which took place Friday and Saturday, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.—
Dac Collins,
Outdoor Life,
1 Oct. 2025
-
Despite years of sitting on the sidelines, the United States has an opportunity to reassert itself in seeking to end the depredations of the junta and advance the cause of democracy in Myanmar.—
Dan Swift,
Foreign Affairs,
30 Sep. 2025
Noun
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As an alliance grew between senators and financial powers, public figures began profiting from real-estate speculation, slave trading, and overseas plunder—while masking their involvement.—
Zephyr Teachout,
The Atlantic,
22 Sep. 2025
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Reparations, long proposed as the only measure proportionate to the scale of racial plunder, look increasingly like a political, economic, and legal non-starter.—
Idrees Kahloon,
New Yorker,
28 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pillaging.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pillaging. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.
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