spoiler
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A document, review or comment that discloses the ending or some key surprise or twist in a story.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
spoylerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈspɔɪlɚ
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.
noun
A document, review or comment that discloses the ending or some key surprise or twist in a story, or the internal rules controlling the behaviour of a video game, etc.
Someone who takes spoils or plunder (as in war)
Someone who pampers or spoils by excessive indulgence
One who spoils; a plunderer; a pillager; a robber; a despoiler.
A candidate with no chance of winning but who may draw enough votes to prevent one of the leading candidates from winning
One who corrupts, mars, or renders useless.
verb
transitivefandom slang
To mark (a document or message) with a spoiler warning, to prevent readers from accidentally learning details they would prefer not to know.
transitivefandom slang
To tell (a person) details of how a story ends etc.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A document, review or comment that discloses the ending or some key surprise or twist in a story, or the internal rules controlling the behaviour of a video game, etc.
Used this way, spoiler is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use spoiler
- “He worried a third-party candidate might act as a spoiler in the election.”noun
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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.