Meanings
verbspoil the market (third-person singular simple present spoils the market, present participle spoiling the market, simple past and past participle spoiled the market)
present singular third person spoils the market · participle present spoiling the market · participle past spoiled the market · past spoiled the market · alternative spoil market
- SingaporeidiomaticinformalTo set higher standards by overachieving, so others look inferior or unmotivated in comparison.
Instead of working with each other, they bicker and say things like, if you do that, you’ll spoil the market.
2006 September 22, Lydia Lim, Keith Lin, Ken Kwek, quoting Alvin Tan, The Straits Times, quoted in Jack Tsen-Ta Lee, A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English, Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Cite this entry
APA
spoil the market. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spoil%20the%20market
MLA
“spoil the market.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spoil%20the%20market. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “spoil the market,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spoil%20the%20market.
Source: spoil the market on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.