plunder.
To pillage, take or destroy all the goods of, by force (as in war); to raid, sack.
Meaning & usage
To pillage, take or destroy all the goods of, by force (as in war); to raid, sack.
The mercenaries plundered the small town.
The shopkeeper was plundered of his possessions by the burglar.
To take (goods) by pillage.
The mercenaries plundered all the goods they found.
To take by force or wrongfully; to commit robbery or looting, to raid.
“Now to plunder, mateys!” screamed a buccaneer, to cries of “Arrgh!” and “Aye!” all around.
To make extensive (over)use of, as if by plundering; to use or use up wrongfully.
The miners plundered the jungle for its diamonds till it became a muddy waste.
To take unexpectedly.
To amass ill-gotten wealth (by public officials) through a combination or series of overt criminal acts.
Where this word comes from
Recorded since 1632 during the Thirty Years War, native British use since the Cromwellian Civil War. Borrowed from German plündern (“to loot”), from Middle High German, from Middle Low German plunderen, from a noun originally meaning "household goods, bedding, clothing," of obscure ultimate origin. This is first attested in medieval records, and according to Gijsseling, is therefore attested too late to be considered a substrate word. Due to the lack of obvious cognates in other languages from which it would have been loaned, it could have developed as some slang word in Lower Saxony/the Low Countries. Cognate with Dutch plunderen, West Frisian plonderje, Saterland Frisian plunnerje. Probably denominal from a word for “household goods, clothes, bedding”; compare Middle Dutch plunder, German Plunder (“stuff”), Dutch and West Frisian plunje (“clothes”). The Philippine definitions originate with the Anti-Plunder Act, an act of Congress enacted in 1991.
An instance of plundering.
The loot attained by plundering.
The Hessian kept his choicest plunder in a sack that never left his person, for fear that his comrades would steal it.
Baggage; luggage.
The commission of plunder (verb definition 6).
Where this word comes from
Recorded since 1632 during the Thirty Years War, native British use since the Cromwellian Civil War. Borrowed from German plündern (“to loot”), from Middle High German, from Middle Low German plunderen, from a noun originally meaning "household goods, bedding, clothing," of obscure ultimate origin. This is first attested in medieval records, and according to Gijsseling, is therefore attested too late to be considered a substrate word. Due to the lack of obvious cognates in other languages from which it would have been loaned, it could have developed as some slang word in Lower Saxony/the Low Countries. Cognate with Dutch plunderen, West Frisian plonderje, Saterland Frisian plunnerje. Probably denominal from a word for “household goods, clothes, bedding”; compare Middle Dutch plunder, German Plunder (“stuff”), Dutch and West Frisian plunje (“clothes”). The Philippine definitions originate with the Anti-Plunder Act, an act of Congress enacted in 1991.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.