What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Loot vs Capture - What's the difference?

loot | capture |

As verbs the difference between loot and capture

is that loot is to steal, especially as part of war, riot or other group violence while capture is .

As a noun loot

is a kind of scoop or ladle, chiefly used to remove the scum from brine-pans in saltworks or loot can be the act of plundering.

loot

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) loet, loete .

Alternative forms

*

Noun

(en noun)
  • A kind of scoop or ladle, chiefly used to remove the scum from brine-pans in saltworks.
  • Etymology 2

    Attested 1788, a loan from Hindustani . The verb is from 1842. Fallows (1885) records both the noun and the verb as "Recent. Anglo-Indian". In origin only applicable to plundering in warfare. A figurative meaning developed in American English in the 1920s, resulting in a generalized meaning by the 1950s

    Noun

    (-)
  • The act of plundering.
  • the loot of an ancient city
  • plunder, booty, especially from a ransacked city.
  • (colloquial, US) any prize or profit received for free, especially Christmas presents
  • *1956 "Free Loot for Children" (LIFE Magazine, 23 April 1956, p. 131)
  • (video games) Items dropped from defeated enemies in video games and online games.
  • Synonyms
    * swag

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to steal, especially as part of war, riot or other group violence.
  • *1833 "Gunganarian, the leader of the Chooars, continues his system of looting and murder", The asiatic Journal and monthly register for British India and its Dependencies Black, Parbury & Allen, p. 66.
  • (video games) to examine the corpse of a fallen enemy for loot.
  • Anagrams

    * *

    References

    *Samuel Fallows, The progressive dictionary of the English language: a supplementary wordbook to all leading dictionaries of the United States and Great Britain (1885). English terms derived from Hindi English terms derived from Urdu ----

    capture

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An act of capturing; a seizing by force or stratagem.
  • * Blackstone
  • even with regard to captures made at sea
  • The securing of an object of strife or desire, as by the power of some attraction.
  • the capture of a lover's heart
  • Something that has been captured; a captive.
  • (computing) A particular match found for a pattern in a text string.
  • Verb

  • To take control of; to seize by force or stratagem.
  • to capture an enemy, a vessel, or a criminal
  • * 2014 , Ian Black, " Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis", The Guardian , 27 November 2014:
  • Arrests and prosecutions intensified after Isis captured Mosul in June, but the groundwork had been laid by an earlier amendment to Jordan’s anti-terrorism law. It is estimated that 2,000 Jordanians have fought and 250 of them have died in Syria – making them the third largest Arab contingent in Isis after Saudi Arabians and Tunisians.
  • To store (as in sounds or image) for later revisitation.
  • She captured the sounds of a subway station on tape.
    She captured the details of the fresco in a series of photographs.
  • To reproduce convincingly.
  • His film adaptation captured the spirit of the original work.
    In her latest masterpiece, she captured the essence of Venice.
  • To remove or take control of an opponent’s piece in a game (e.g., chess, go, checkers).
  • My pawn was captured .
    He captured his opponent’s queen on the 15th move.
  • * 1954 , Fred Reinfeld, How to Be a Winner at Chess , page 63, Hanover House (Garden City, NY)
  • How deeply ingrained capturing is in the mind of a chess master can be seen from this story.

    Derived terms

    * screen capture * capture the flag

    See also

    * take * arrest * apprehend * take over * snapshot

    Anagrams

    * ----