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spoiled

UK/spɔɪld/US/spɔɪld/
adjectiveB12 meaningsCommon in everyday speech and writing · #2,730 of 15,258leans spoken

Spoiled means given so much that behaviour has suffered. A spoiled child, spoiled rotten, thoroughly spoiled.

Spoilt is the commoner British form and spoiled the American, and both are correct. Spoiled rotten is the fixed phrase. Of food it means gone bad, and of an event it means ruined: the whole day was spoiled. A spoiled ballot is one marked so that it cannot be counted, sometimes deliberately. Note spoil, spoiler; and that spoiling somebody is also affectionate — being spoiled for a birthday is entirely good.

Definitions of spoiled

  1. 1adjectivespoiledGiven so much that behaviour has suffered.B1

    “The spoiled child screamed when he didn't get another toy.”

  2. 2adjectiveruinedRuined or gone bad.B1

    “The milk was spoiled, so I had to pour it away.”

Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.

spoiled is a state of being over-indulged or ruined.

Practised in Family & People

Practise this word

spoiled in the wild

  • The crew endured heavy weather, a leaking hull, and spoiled stores; the dog died at sea.

    Red, White and Blue (ship)

  • More than 500 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine were deliberately spoiled in Grafton, Wisconsin, in December 2020.

    Vaccine tampering incident in Grafton, Wisconsin

  • Scombroid food poisoning, also known as simply scombroid, is a foodborne illness that typically results from eating spoiled fish.

    Scombroid food poisoning

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.