as in pillaging
to search through with the intent of committing robbery
the escaped convict plundered the house in search of valuables
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in looting
Related Words
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 plundering
Literary Hub, 27 June 2025
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
Verb
Aron Solomon on how the Meta AI copyright decision made libraries sitting ducks for AI plundering.
—Literary Hub, 27 June 2025
Noun
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for plundering
Verb
-
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
Noun
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
Other times, the mob leaned on more traditional crime tactics — robbery, extortion and assault, including a punch to one victim’s face — to force the card players to pay.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
25 Oct. 2025
-
Böcker, the firm that manufactured the furniture lift apparently used in the audacious robbery, has taken to social media to show there is no such thing as bad publicity.—
Lianne Kolirin,
CNN Money,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
Verb
-
In the video, the animals can be seen ransacking the establishment to satisfy their cravings, snacking on protein shakes, coffee and supplements.—
Taylor Ardrey,
USA Today,
18 Oct. 2025
-
California’s suburbs were terrorized for years by a series of crimes that graduated from ransacking to rape and then murder.—
Ian Berry,
CNN Money,
22 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Plundering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plundering. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share