Larceny

//ˈlɑɹ.sə.ni// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The unlawful taking of personal property as an attempt to deprive the legal owner of it permanently. uncountable

    "“Why are you walking around,” inquired Oedipa, “with your eyes closed, Metzger?” “Larceny,” Metzger said, “maybe they'll need a lawyer.”"

  2. 2
    the act of taking something from someone unlawfully wordnet
  3. 3
    An individual instance of such a taking. countable

    "That young man already has four assaults, a DUI, and a larceny on his record."

Synonyms

All synonyms
theftembezzlementfilchfilchfive-finger discountlift

Example

More examples

"Stealing a man's wife, that's nothing, but stealing his car, that's larceny."

Etymology

Coined in Middle English (as larceni) between 1425 and 1475 from Anglo-Norman larcin (“theft”), from Latin latrocinium (“robbery”), from latro (“robber, mercenary”), from Ancient Greek λάτρον (látron, “pay, hire”).

Related phrases

compound larcenyfloral larcenygrand larcenymixed larcenypetit larcenypetty larcenysimple larceny

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.