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loot

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Goods or money get illegally.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

loot
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈlut

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. slang

    Goods or money obtained illegally

  2. colloquialus

    Any valuable thing received for free, especially Christmas presents.

  3. slang

    Informal terms for money

verb

  1. Steal goods; take as spoils

    “During the earthquake people looted the stores that were deserted by their owners.”

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Primarily written

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Goods or money obtained illegally

Used this way, loot is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in everyday conversation and social media or informal writing contexts.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Very casual
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Playful
Usage feel
Playful and informal

Where it naturally appears

  • Everyday conversation
  • Social media/informal writing

Usage note

Slang: natural in speech and messages between friends, but out of place in school, work or published writing.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use loot

  • “During the earthquake people looted the stores that were deserted by their owners.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

some loot

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • booty

    Goods or money obtained illegally.

  • lucre

    Informal terms for money.

  • strip

    An investment strategy involving simultaneous trade with one call and two put options on the same security at the same….

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • lootingnounInflected form

    Plundering during riots or in wartime.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

noun

Sense: goods or money obtained illegally

plunderdespoilArchaic

verb

Sense: steal goods

despoilRare

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.