burglarize
Americanverb (used with object)
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burglarizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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burglarized,
past participle, past
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burglarizing
present participle
verb (used without object)
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burglarizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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burglarized,
past participle, past
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burglarizing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
burglarizesimple
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burglarizessimple
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have burglarizedperfect
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has burglarizedperfect
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am burglarizingprogressive
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are burglarizingprogressive
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is burglarizingprogressive
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have been burglarizingperfect progressive
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has been burglarizingperfect progressive
Past
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burglarizedsimple
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had burglarizedperfect
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was burglarizingprogressive
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were burglarizingprogressive
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had been burglarizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of burglarize
Explanation
To burglarize is to break into a building or home and steal something from it. Your locked doors and barking dog are likely to stop a bad guy's plan to burglarize your house. In the UK, you'd probably use the verb burgle instead, but in the US burglarize is more common. You're even more likely to simply say "steal" or "rob," but if you need to be specific about the fact that a building was entered illegally during the crime, say burglarize.
Vocabulary lists containing burglarize
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Another resident, Andrés Calderón, 40, said several people in the neighborhood hadn’t wanted to leave their homes, fearing that thieves would burglarize them.
From New York Times ● Feb. 4, 2024
“He would have no need to burglarize or steal anything from anyone at a trailer park,” Steinberg said, adding that Winslow “looks forward to being vindicated” in court.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2018
Dean testified that orders to burglarize the office of the psychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg, who released the Pentagon Papers to news organizations in 1971, came “right out of the Oval Office.”
From Washington Post ● Mar. 21, 2015
“Eric Rivera Jr. would not have been in that car on the way to burglarize Sean Taylor’s house that night if he was a really good football player,” Dorsey said in a phone interview.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 29, 2014
Brand-new words which have not become established in good use: as, "burglarize," "enthuse," "electrocute."
From Practical Exercises in English by Huber Gray Buehler
The horror thriller, about a valet who burglarizes the houses of his rich customers, earned a B-minus rating on CinemaScore and a 56% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2018
Sielsch drove to a home that had been burglarized by a bear to install an electric mat on the back porch.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
He also investigates stolen tractors and off-road vehicles, burglarized deer camps, and financial crimes, like a $2 million case that involved a man who took out bank loans on cows he didn’t own.
From Barron's ● Feb. 13, 2026
“Neighbors are being burglarized quite often. For the streets to be this dark is even more of a danger,” Sicilia said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 21, 2026
Pitt, who owns several properties across the globe, is understood to have been away from the dwelling when it was burglarized on the evening of June 25.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2025
It isn’t merely coincidental or surprising, as when the newscaster thoughtlessly reports, “Ironically, the jewelry store was burglarized on the same date last year.”
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
Cloobeck’s former girlfriend, Lavie, was charged in March with burglarizing the homes of older wealthy men she met through dating apps.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
Can you still claim to be one of the country’s safest cities if thieves are burglarizing your residents’ properties on a daily basis?
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2024
Craig Koblitz, 62, a yacht repairman who lives across the street, said some neighbors had suspected him of burglarizing a nearby house a few years ago.
From New York Times ● Feb. 15, 2018
Although Watergate had some foreign policy origins — the “plumbers” started out burglarizing Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office in response to the Pentagon Papers — it was an overwhelmingly domestic affair with a narrow focus.
From Salon ● Jun. 4, 2017
There was the Kellys, of course, but the Kellys couldn't qualify neither, for they're too rich to need to do any burglarizing.
From Susan Clegg and Her Love Affairs by Anne Warner
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
