Pilferage

//ˈpɪlf(ə)ɹɪd͡ʒ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The individual act or recurring practice of stealing items of low value, especially in small quantities, for which the legal term is petty theft. countable, uncountable

    "Sir Thomas Royden, Chairman of the L.M.S.R., and Mr. Robert Holland-Martin, Chairman of the Southern Railway, both deplored the wholesale robbery and petty pilferage which have increased until they have reached appalling dimensions."

  2. 2
    the act of stealing small amounts or small articles wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abstractionannexationappropriationconversionconveyanceembezzlement

Example

More examples

"Sir Thomas Royden, Chairman of the L.M.S.R., and Mr. Robert Holland-Martin, Chairman of the Southern Railway, both deplored the wholesale robbery and petty pilferage which have increased until they have reached appalling dimensions."

Etymology

From pilfer + -age.

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