spoil
part of speech
verb (spoil, spoils, spoiled or spoilt, spoiling); noun (the spoils — rare)
meaning for a pupil
1) To spoil something means to ruin it or make it worse. tree →
2) Food spoils when it goes bad and is no longer safe to eat. tree →
3) To spoil a child means to give them everything they want, so they may expect too much. tree →
4) To spoil also means to treat someone kindly in a special way. tree →
5) Spoil can also mean goods taken by force, such as loot after a battle or raid. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life, food spoils if left out of the fridge; milk smells sour and bread goes mouldy. In stories and films, a spoiler tells the ending and spoils the surprise. In manners lessons, a spoiled child sulks when they don't get their way. Phrases: spoil the fun, spoil the surprise, spoiled rotten, a spoilsport, spoiler.
examples
- The rain spoiled our picnic. tree →
- Don't tell me the ending, you'll spoil it! tree →
- Milk spoils quickly if you leave it in the sun. tree →
- His grandparents spoil him with sweets. tree →
- Don't be a spoilsport; come and play. tree →
- One mean comment spoiled her day. tree →
- Throw away food that has spoiled. tree →
- Mum spoiled us with pancakes on Sunday. tree →
- The Ass was asked to divide the spoil. tree →
note
Past: spoiled or spoilt (spoilt is more British). «Spoilt/spoiled child» is a criticism. A spoiler is something that gives away a story's ending. Spoiled food can make you ill; when in doubt, throw it out.
In the corpora
- If the wrong things go in a recycling bin, a whole load can be spoiled.
- jiùjiu («JYO-jyo») is mum's brother, in many families a special, spoiling uncle.
- Spoiled food may smell sour or rotten because bacteria (tiny living things too small to see) and moulds are breaking it down.
- Cheating spoils a game, because nobody can trust the result.
- Spoiled food, food past its use-by date and food left out for hours on a hot day can cause food poisoning.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «spoil» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.