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by Liz Walter
My last post looked at some general vocabulary for talking about crime. Today I’m going to focus on the specific area of theft.
I’ll start with the difference between two common verbs, steal and rob. ‘Steal’ is followed by the thing that is stolen, but ‘rob’ is followed by the person or place something was stolen from:
Thieves stole his collection of old coins.
She was robbed on her way to the station.
They were planning to rob a bank.
Someone who steals things is a thief or a robber, and the crimes they commit are theft and robbery:
The jewellery was in a case to protect it from thieves.
She reported the robbery to the police.
A thief who steals things from buildings, especially homes, is a burglar and the crime they commit is burglary. Note that the related verb is burgle in UK English and burglarize in US English:
He discovered a burglar in his house.
There has been a spate of burglaries in our street.
Our house was burgled while we were abroad.
People who deliberately take things from shops without paying for them are called shoplifters and their crime is shoplifting:
The store employs staff to look out for shoplifters.
She was caught shoplifting.
Pickpockets take things from people’s pockets, bags, etc., often in crowded places. Muggers also operate in public places and use violence or threats to steal things such as money, phones, or jewellery. When this happens to someone, we say they have been mugged:
Look out for pickpockets in crowded areas.
He was attacked by a mugger.
I was mugged twice when I lived in London.
The verb pilfer is used to talk about stealing things of low value, particularly from the place where you work. Someone who embezzles money (often large amounts) steals it from their employer or takes it when they should be looking after it for someone else:
He used to pilfer printer paper from work.
He embezzled thousands of dollars from his employer before he was caught.
Looting is when people steal from shops during a violent event such as a riot. Poaching is the illegal hunting of animals, either animals such as deer to eat or wild animals such as elephants and tigers whose skins or body parts are sold on the black market. This verb can also be used figuratively, for example for stealing an idea, or for persuading someone else’s employee to come and work for you:
There was widespread looting after the storms.
Armed guards are employed to prevent the poaching of elephants for ivory.
They poached their accountant from a rival firm.
These are just some of the words we have for stealing. Can you think of any others?
How about “ransack”? It seems like mix between looting and pilfer/burglary
Scamming on internet or in real life?
Scamming … A new word in this era…
Thank you! It’s very interesting and useful.
I like Cambridge Dictionary 😄
Loved the post. I’d like to add that the crime for “embezzle” is “embezzlement”; and “pilfer” is one who practices the crime of “pilferage”. Great work. Thank you!
Pilferer (not pilfer) is a person who practices the crime of “pilferage” (who steals things of little value or in small quantities, especially from the place where they work).
English is so tricky. A lot of different words to describe a single action like steal something. In portuguese we just use one single word to describe this action of taking something from someone, the word is “Roubar” . It is so simple isnt it ?
No. I would like to kindly disagree. Although “roubar” can in fact be used in most scenarios, just like “stealing”, in Portuguese (Brazil’s, at least) we do have some more nuanced words that are more specific to the way the theft was commit.
Some that come to mind are “assaltar”, “afanar”, “surrupiar”, “furtar”, “saquear”. These can imply the different levels of furtiveness, violence, damage done, price of stollen goods etc. Portuguese is a beautiful language and just as complex and intricate as any other.
Cheers!
very interesting; I’ve learned new English words
One word that came to my mind is “plunder”
Thanks.
Looting also refers to taking things from homes or places of business that have been left unguarded due to the effects of the disasters, such as floods, fires or war. “Looters will be shot.”
There’s a series of p-words describing the rich spectrum of theft. In order of increasing severity: to purloin, to pinch, to pilfer, to poach, to plunder, to pillage.
”Smuggle” would be a good addition too)
Thank you so much. It was really interesting and helpful.
bootlegging (Adj,v,n)
thanks.