robbery
- 01 B1 Intermediate
the act of stealing something from a person or a building while using violence or threats.
the criminal act of taking property from another person through the use of force, violence, or the threat of harm.
Simple“The police are looking for two men following a bank robbery yesterday morning.”
In context“The prosecution argued that the presence of a weapon elevated the charge from simple theft to armed robbery, regardless of whether the defendant intended to use it.”
PitfallThe thief committed a robbery of my car while I was at work. The thief committed a theft of my car while I was at work.Use 'robbery' when a person is threatened or present; use 'theft' or 'burglary' for stealing from an empty location or vehicle.
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
a situation where you think something is much too expensive.
an informal figurative extension describing a transaction perceived as being excessively or unfairly expensive.
Simple“Ten dollars for a small bottle of water? That is daylight robbery.”
In context“Charging such exorbitant interest rates on short-term loans is nothing short of legalised robbery, targeting those who can least afford it.”
Synonymsrip offexploitation
“The suspected murderers of two Australian surfers and an American at a Mexican surfing hotspot have gone on trial, two years after the killings in a suspected robbery.”
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.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.