different between flaw vs spoil

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English flawe, flay (“a flake of fire or snow, spark, splinter”), probably from Old Norse flaga (“a flag or slab of stone, flake”), from Proto-Germanic *flag? (“a layer of soil”), from Proto-Indo-European *pl?k- (“broad, flat”). Cognate with Icelandic flaga (“flake”), Swedish flaga (“flake, scale”), Danish flage (“flake”), Middle Low German vlage (“a layer of soil”), Old English fl?h (“a frament, piece”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?fl??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?fl?/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /?fl?/
• Rhymes: -??
• Homophone: floor (in non-rhotic accents with the horse–hoarse merger)

Noun

flaw (plural flaws)

1. (obsolete) A flake, fragment, or shiver.
2. (obsolete) A thin cake, as of ice.
3. A crack or breach, a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion.
4. A defect, fault, or imperfection, especially one that is hidden.

   • Has not this also its flaws and its dark side?

   1. (in particular) An inclusion, stain, or other defect of a diamond or other gemstone.
   2. (law) A defect or error in a contract or other document which may make the document invalid or ineffective.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:defect

Derived terms

• flawful
• flawless
• flawsome
• tragic flaw

Translations

Verb

flaw (third-person singular simple present flaws, present participle flawing, simple past and past participle flawed)

1. (transitive) To add a flaw to, to make imperfect or defective.
2. (intransitive) To become imperfect or defective; to crack or break.

Translations

Etymology 2

Probably Middle Dutch vl?ghe or Middle Low German vl?ge. Or, of North Germanic origin, from Swedish flaga (“gust of wind”), from Old Norse flaga; all from Proto-Germanic *flag?n-. See modern Dutch vlaag (“gust of wind”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fl??/
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

flaw (plural flaws)

1. A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration; windflaw.
   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, The Marriage of Geraint

     Like flaws in summer laying lusty corn.

2. A storm of short duration.
3. A sudden burst of noise and disorder

   Synonyms: tumult, uproar, quarrel

Translations

References

Anagrams

• AFLW, WAFL

Sranan Tongo

Verb

flaw

1. To faint.

English

Etymology

From Middle English spoilen, spuylen, borrowed from Old French espoillier, espollier, espuler, from Latin spoli?re, present active infinitive of spoli? (“pillage, ruin, spoil”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: spoil, IPA^(key): /sp??l/

• Rhymes: -??l

Verb

spoil (third-person singular simple present spoils, present participle spoiling, simple past and past participle spoiled or spoilt)

1. (transitive, archaic) To strip (someone who has been killed or defeated) of their arms or armour. [from 14th c.]
2. (transitive, archaic) To strip or deprive (someone) of their possessions; to rob, despoil. [from 14th c.]
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts 9:21:

     All that herde hym wer amased and sayde: ys nott this he that spoylled them whych called on this name in Jerusalem?

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VII:

     To do her dye (quoth Vna) were despight, / And shame t'auenge so weake an enimy; / But spoile her of her scarlot robe, and let her fly.
3. (transitive, intransitive, archaic) To plunder, pillage (a city, country etc.). [from 14th c.]

   • Outlaws, which, lurking in woods, used to break forth to rob and spoil.

4. (transitive, obsolete) To carry off (goods) by force; to steal. [14th-19th c.]
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Mark 3.27,^[1]

     No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man.

   • 1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid, London: T. Passinger, p. 35,^[2]

     They must likewise endeavour to be careful in looking after the rest of the Servants, that every one perform their duty in their several places, that they keep good hours in their up-rising and lying down, and that no Goods be either spoiled or embezelled.

   • 1814, Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, Chapter 38,^[3]

     […] it was her own knife; little sister Mary had left it to her upon her deathbed, and she ought to have had it to keep herself long ago. But mama kept it from her, and was always letting Betsey get hold of it; and the end of it would be that Betsey would spoil it, and get it for her own, though mama had promised her that Betsey should not have it in her own hands.

5. (transitive) To ruin; to damage (something) in some way making it unfit for use. [from 16th c.]
   • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living

     Spiritual pride […] spoils so many graces.

   • "I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." ¶ "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. […]"

   • 2011, ‘What the Arab papers say’, The Economist, 5 Aug 2011:

     ‘This is a great day for us. Let us not spoil it by saying the wrong thing, by promoting a culture of revenge, or by failing to treat the former president with respect.’

6. (transitive) To ruin the character of, by overindulgence; to coddle or pamper to excess. [from 17th c.]
7. (intransitive) Of food, to become bad, sour or rancid; to decay. [from 17th c.]

   Make sure you put the milk back in the fridge, otherwise it will spoil.

8. (transitive) To render (a ballot paper) invalid by deliberately defacing it. [from 19th c.]
   • 2003, David Nicoll, The Guardian, letter:

     Dr Jonathan Grant (Letters, April 22) feels the best way to show his disaffection with political parties over Iraq is to spoil his ballot paper.

9. (transitive) To reveal the ending or major events of (a story etc.); to ruin (a surprise) by exposing it ahead of time.
10. (aviation) To reduce the lift generated by an airplane or wing by deflecting air upwards, usually with a spoiler.

Synonyms

• (ruin): damage, destroy, ruin
• (coddle): coddle, pamper, indulge, mollycoddle

Related terms

• despoil

Translations

Noun

spoil (plural spoils)

1. (Also in plural: spoils) Plunder taken from an enemy or victim.
2. (uncountable) Material (such as rock or earth) removed in the course of an excavation, or in mining or dredging. Tailings. Such material could be utilised somewhere else.

Synonyms

• (plunder taken from an enemy or victim): See Thesaurus:booty
• (material moved): gangue, slag, tailings

Derived terms

• spoiler

Translations

See also

• spoilage
• spoils of war
• spoilsport
• spoilt
• too many cooks spoil the broth

References

• spoil at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• -polis, Polis, polis