Robbery

//ˈɹɒbəɹi// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act or practice of robbing. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    larceny by threat of violence wordnet
  3. 3
    The offense of taking or attempting to take the property of another by force or threat of force. countable, uncountable

    "bank robbery"

  4. 4
    plundering during riots or in wartime wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
lootingarmed robberyasportationassault and robberybanditrybank robbery

Example

More examples

"Bank robbery will cost you ten years in prison."

Etymology

From Middle English robberie, robry, roberie, from Old French roberie, from the verb rober (“to steal; to pillage”) + -ie. Ultimately from unattested Frankish *raubōn. By surface analysis, rob + -ery. Compare Dutch roverij (“robbery”), Norwegian Bokmål røveri (“robbery”), German Räuberei (“robbery, banditry”). Displaced native Old English rēaflāc.

Related phrases

armed robberybank robberydaylight robberyfair exchange is no robberyhighway robberystrong-arm robberyarmed burglaryarmed crimearmed crooksarmed stealingarmed theftat gunpoint

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