spoliate means to plunder. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “spoliate” is a great word
SPOLIATE — [Verb] To plunder or despoil systematically, especially by force as in war or under legal pretext. From Latin spoliātus, past participle of spoliō ("to plunder, pillage, rob"). First known use circa 1727. Unlike "pillage," which evokes the violent chaos of a sacked city, or "despoil," which can apply to the stripping of dignity or a landscape, spoliate carries the cold weight of procedure. It is the methodical emptying of a library’s shelves into crates, the bureaucratic inventory taken of a seized estate’s silver, and the steady scraping of marble facings from a monument to be repurposed elsewhere—robbery rendered as an administrative function, its violence quieted by ledger and law.
Etymology
From Latin spoliātus, perfect passive participle of spoliō (“plunder, pillage, rob”).
verb
- To plunder
- To engage in robbery; to plunder.