despoliation
/dɪˌspəʊlɪˈeɪʃ(ə)n
/noun [mass noun]
The action of despoiling or the condition of being despoiled; plunder: the despoliation of the resources of the natural world...
- It lists noise pollution, environmental despoliation, training accidents that damage property and a stunting of urban and industrial development as reasons to object to their presence.
- In the earlier films humans had been punished for their ambition, but in this later phase of worst-case dramas the planet had a more solid motivation for hitting back: our despoliation of the planet.
- He balances his outrage with the sad reflection that there's nothing new under the sun; that exploitation and despoliation are as old as humanity itself.
Synonyms
devastation, destruction, ruin, ruination, ravaging, vandalism, depredation, despoilment;
plunder, plundering, looting, pillage, harrying, marauding, ransacking, raiding, ravishing, rape, raping, sacking
archaic reaving
- third sector
- third time lucky (or third time is the charm)
- third ventricle
- third wave
- third way
- Third World
- thirst
- thirstful
- thirstily
- thirstiness
- thirstland
- thirst-making
- thirst-provoking
- thirst quencher
- thirst-quenching
- thirsty
- thirteen
- Thirteen Colonies
- thirteenth
- thirteenth cheque
- thirtieth
- thirty
- thirty-eight
- thirtyfold
- Thirty-nine Articles