plunder
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Take illegally; of intellectual property.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pluhnderSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈplʌndɚ
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Take illegally; of intellectual property
“This writer plundered from famous authors.”
Steal goods; take as spoils
transitive
To pillage, take or destroy all the goods of, by force (as in war); to raid, sack.
intransitive
To take by force or wrongfully; to commit robbery or looting, to raid.
transitive
To take unexpectedly.
transitive
To make extensive (over)use of, as if by plundering; to use or use up wrongfully.
noun
An instance of plundering.
The loot attained by plundering.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Take illegally; of intellectual property
Used this way, plunder is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.
“This writer plundered from famous authors.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Nearby words
- despoil , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use plunder
- “This writer plundered from famous authors.”verb
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Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: instance of plundering
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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.