pillaged

Pillaging is the act of looting or plundering property by force, typically during war, civil unrest, or other situations of lawlessness. It involves seizing valuables, food, equipment, and other goods from homes, settlements, or infrastructure, often accompanied by violence or destruction. The adjective pillaged describes property or places that have been looted or ransacked.

The term derives from Middle English pillagen, from Old French pillage, meaning plunder. In historical contexts, pillage was a common feature of warfare and conquest, sometimes tolerated or regulated by customary practice, with leaders or bands of soldiers taking a share of the wealth they acquired.

In modern international law, pillage is generally prohibited. International humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions, forbids looting and the destruction or forcible appropriation of civilian property during armed conflict, and those responsible can be subject to criminal accountability. The distinction between legitimate requisition or military necessity and unlawful pillage has long been a point of legal and ethical debate.

Contemporary usage extends beyond war to describe systemic misappropriation or theft of resources in peacetime, such as during civil disorder, occupation, or corruption. The term is sometimes used metaphorically to describe the forcible extraction of assets from a community or organization.

See also: looting, plunder, sack, sacking, destruction of property.