spoil past tense and past participle spoiled or spoilt,
- spoil past tense and past participle spoiled or spoilt,
- BrE
verb
1 RUIN STH (T) to have a bad effect on something so that it is no longer attractive, enjoyable, useful etc: The countryside has been spoiled by the new freeway. | Don't spoil your sister's birthday by crying at her party. | spoil everything (=completely ruin someone's plan): Mom arrived home just then, which spoiled everything.
—see also: spoil/ruin your appetite appetite (1), —see also: destroy
2 FOOD (I) to start to decay: Food will spoil if the temperature in your freezer rises above 8ºC.
3 CHILD (T) to give a child whatever they want, or let them do what they want, with the result that they behave badly: spoil sb with sth: Jimmy's grandmother spoils him with toys and candy.
4 TREAT KINDLY (T) to look after someone in a way that is kind or too kind: You know you're spoiling me with all this good cooking. | spoil yourself: Go on, spoil yourself. Have another piece of cake.
5 VOTING PAPER (T) to mark a ballot paper wrongly so that your vote is not included
6 be spoiling for a fight/argument to be very eager to fight or argue with someone
—see also: spoils, spoiler
Longman dictionary of contemporary English.
2004.
Look at other dictionaries:
spoil */*/ — UK [spɔɪl] / US verb Word forms spoil : present tense I/you/we/they spoil he/she/it spoils present participle spoiling past tense spoiled or spoilt UK [spɔɪlt] / US past participle spoiled or spoilt 1) [transitive] to affect something in a way… … English dictionary
spoil — spoil1 [spɔıl] v past tense and past participle spoiled also spoilt [spɔılt] BrE ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 1¦(damage)¦ 2¦(treat too kindly)¦ 3¦(treat kindly)¦ 4¦(decay)¦ 5¦(voting)¦ 6 be spoiling for a fight/argument ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ [Date: 1200 1300; … Dictionary of contemporary English
spoil*/ — [spɔɪl] (past tense and past participle spoiled spoilt [spɔɪlt] ) verb 1) [T] to make something worse, less attractive, or less enjoyable Radio towers spoilt the view.[/ex] I really hope it doesn t rain – that would spoil everything.[/ex] 2) [T]… … Dictionary for writing and speaking English
spoil — [[t]spɔ͟ɪl[/t]] spoils, spoiling, spoiled, spoilt (American English uses the form spoiled as the past tense and past participle. British English uses either spoiled or spoilt.) 1) VERB If you spoil something, you prevent it from being successful… … English dictionary
spoiled, spoilt — The past tense and past participle of the verb spoil are spoiled or spoilt. Both forms are correct: The food was spoiled (or spoilt). The mother spoiled (or spoilt) her children. This stationery has been spoiled (or spoilt). Spoiled is more… … Dictionary of problem words and expressions
spoilt — /spɔɪlt / (say spoylt) verb 1. a past tense and past participle of spoil. –adjective 2. selfish; used to getting one s own way because of being overindulged: a spoilt child. –phrase 3. spoilt rotten, Colloquial (of a child) extremely spoilt. Also …
American and British English differences — For the Wikipedia editing policy on use of regional variants in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Manual of style#National varieties of English. This is one of a series of articles about the differences between British English and American English, which … Wikipedia
