Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One who mars the pleasure of others.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Someone who puts an end to other's fun, especially harmless fun.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone who spoils the pleasure of others

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the verbal expression spoil sport ("ruin the amusement").

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Examples

  • It was to 'spoil the fun' for the last time as Gandhi failed to play 'spoilsport' ever again and the tournament continued until before partition.

    The Times of India 2010

  • The misconceived refusal to give Charlie Adam a penalty and send off Philippe Senderos on the hour, a spoilsport decision to disallow a goal for Luis Suárez midway through the second half and a red card for the young midfielder Jay Spearing a few minutes later prefaced a crescendo of Fulham attacking which ended with a dreadful Pepe Reina error and a decisive tap-in for Clint Dempsey.

    Andy Carroll's ineffectiveness adds to Liverpool frustration at Fulham | Richard Williams 2011

  • All of which might just be enough to dispel the shadow that has been cast by the PSN trouble... that is if hackers don't decide to play spoilsport and manage to knock out the network again on Monday.

    Turnstyle: E3: Microsoft and Sony Preview Turnstyle 2011

  • Obama hasn't taken any guns, nor has he announced any plans to do so, However the Hype put out by his spoilsport opponents, that sure as heck sells guns.

    Rifle Shooting's 10 Most Significant Developments of the Decade 2009

  • All of which might just be enough to dispel the shadow that has been cast by the PSN trouble... that is if hackers don't decide to play spoilsport and manage to knock out the network again on Monday.

    Turnstyle: E3: Microsoft and Sony Preview Turnstyle 2011

  • Disgruntled creditors may once again play spoilsport for troubled pharma company Wockhardt and question the R1,575-crore deal that company inked with French dairy major Danone to sell its nutrition business.

    Deals India: Morning News Roundup Deals India Staff 2011

  • The rush of private equity PE funds to purchase a slice of power producing companies has slowed down, despite a fall in asset value, as fuel linkage and tariff issues play spoilsport.

    Deals India: Morning News Roundup Deals India Staff 2011

  • As a world-class spoilsport and curmudgeon, I now have less and less anecdotal material to fall back on when I want to blast another society.

    French Twist: Meet Monsieur Nice Guy Joe Queenan 2011

  • Rorty may very well be right, but reading him is as pedestrian as his ideology, like a spoilsport picking a pin in a balloon rather than building something.

    Designing a Hermetically Sealed, Self-Pleasing Ideology darkerblogistan 2009

  • I had received a few abusive tweets too many on the social networking site, and decided to do something about them: not because I am a spoilsport or humourless, but because I object to family and friends reading comments about me which are not just wicked, but against the law.

    'Police put the phone down on my complaint over Twitter racial abuse' 2011

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