spoil 1 S3 / spɔɪl / 动词 ( past tense and past participle spoiled or spoilt / spɔɪlt / British English )

1 damage [及物动词] to have a bad effect on something so that it is no longer attractive, enjoyable, useful etc 同义词 ruin :

The whole park is spoiled by litter.

We didn’t let the incident spoil our day.

I don’t want to spoil your fun.

Why do you always have to spoil everything ? → spoil/ruin your appetite at appetite ( 1 )

2 treat too kindly [及物动词] to give a child everything they want, or let them do whatever they want, often with the result that they behave badly :

She’s an only child, but they didn’t really spoil her.

His mother and sisters spoil him rotten (= spoil him very much ) .

3 treat kindly [及物动词] to look after someone in a way that is very kind or too kind :

You’ll have to let me spoil you on your birthday.

spoil yourself

Go on, spoil yourself. Have another piece of cake.

4 decay [不及物动词] to start to decay :

Food will spoil if the temperature in your freezer rises above 8°C.

5 voting [及物动词] British English to mark a ballot paper wrongly so that your vote is not included

6 be spoiling for a fight/argument to be very eager to fight or argue with someone

THESAURUS

spoil to have a bad effect on something so that it is much less attractive, enjoyable etc : New housing developments are spoiling the countryside. | The bad weather completely spoiled our holiday.

ruin to spoil something completely and permanently : Using harsh soap to wash your face can ruin your skin. | The argument ruined the evening for me.

mar written to spoil something by making it less attractive or enjoyable : His handsome Arab features were marred by a long scar across his face. | Outbreaks of fighting marred the New Year celebrations.

detract from something to slightly spoil something that is generally very good, beautiful, or impressive : The huge number of tourists rather detracts from the city’s appeal. | There were a few minor irritations, but this did not detract from our enjoyment of the holiday.

undermine to spoil something that you have been trying to achieve : The bombings undermined several months of careful negotiations.

sour to spoil a friendly relationship between people or countries : The affair has soured relations between the UK and Russia.

poison to spoil a close relationship completely, so that people can no longer trust each other : Their marriage was poisoned by a terrible dark secret.

mess something up informal to spoil something important or something that has been carefully planned : If there’s any delay, it will mess up our whole schedule.