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SPOILT
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Affected by blight; anything that mars or prevents growth or prosperity
Example:
blighted urban districts
Synonyms:
blighted; spoilt
Classified under:
Similar:
destroyed (spoiled or ruined or demolished)
Sense 2
Meaning:
(of foodstuffs) not in an edible or usable condition
Example:
a refrigerator full of spoilt food
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
stale (lacking freshness, palatability, or showing deterioration from age)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Having the character or disposition harmed by pampering or oversolicitous attention
Example:
a spoiled child
Synonyms:
spoiled; spoilt
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
ill-natured (having an irritable and unpleasant disposition)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Past simple / past participle of the verb spoil
Context examples:
They had taken out a young dog, who had spoilt their sport, and sent them back early.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
How could I possibly prefer the spoilt pet of a wealthy family, who would hate her governess as a nuisance, to a lonely little orphan, who leans towards her as a friend?
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
That Julia escaped better than Maria was owing, in some measure, to a favourable difference of disposition and circumstance, but in a greater to her having been less the darling of that very aunt, less flattered and less spoilt.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Unfortunately an only son (for many years an only child), I was spoilt by my parents, who, though good themselves (my father, particularly, all that was benevolent and amiable), allowed, encouraged, almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing; to care for none beyond my own family circle; to think meanly of all the rest of the world; to wish at least to think meanly of their sense and worth compared with my own.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
If he were a little spoilt by such universal, such eager admiration, who could wonder?
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
And then they had called her to a sofa, where she now sat, ensconced between them, chattering alternately in French and broken English; absorbing not only the young ladies' attention, but that of Mrs. Eshton and Lady Lynn, and getting spoilt to her heart's content.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Spoilt, spoilt!
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
My pupil was a lively child, who had been spoilt and indulged, and therefore was sometimes wayward; but as she was committed entirely to my care, and no injudicious interference from any quarter ever thwarted my plans for her improvement, she soon forgot her little freaks, and became obedient and teachable.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Mrs. Price talked of her poor sister for a few minutes, but how to find anything to hold Susan's clothes, because Rebecca took away all the boxes and spoilt them, was much more in her thoughts: and as for Susan, now unexpectedly gratified in the first wish of her heart, and knowing nothing personally of those who had sinned, or of those who were sorrowing—if she could help rejoicing from beginning to end, it was as much as ought to be expected from human virtue at fourteen.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
The scene-painter was gone, having spoilt only the floor of one room, ruined all the coachman's sponges, and made five of the under-servants idle and dissatisfied; and Sir Thomas was in hopes that another day or two would suffice to wipe away every outward memento of what had been, even to the destruction of every unbound copy of Lovers' Vows in the house, for he was burning all that met his eye.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
