robbery
Americannoun
-
criminal law the stealing of property from a person by using or threatening to use force
-
the act or an instance of robbing
Usage
What does robbery mean? Robbery is the act of robbing—stealing, especially by force or through threats of violence. Someone who commits robbery is called a robber. Robbery can involve robbing a person or a place, such as a house or business. The robbery of a person on the street is often called a mugging. The act of robbing a bank is called bank robbery. Armed robbery involves robbing a person or place while armed with a weapon. Robbery is a kind of theft, which is the act of stealing. However, the word theft often refers to a case in which a thief steals something without anyone noticing, at least not when the theft is taking place. In contrast, a case in which a person steals by using force, violence, or threats of violence would more likely be called a robbery. The word rob can also be used in a kind of figurative way meaning to unfairly deprive someone of something, but robbery is usually only used in a literal sense. Example: Police have released sketches of the suspects in the hopes that someone can identify the men involved in the robbery.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of robbery
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English robberie from Old French. See rob, -ery
Compare meaning
How does robbery compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A person who steals money from a convenience store by claiming to have a gun under his shirt is guilty of robbery, or using a violent threat to take something that doesn't belong to him. Whether a criminal wields a weapon or just threatens to hurt someone while stealing from that person, he is committing robbery. Robbery is different from burglary — breaking into a house or building to steal — because it involves a threat of danger to a person. Carjackings, stick-ups, and muggings are all different kinds of robbery.
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:
Rodriguez falsely indicated that the victim’s cell phone number was associated with the robbery suspect.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
The case came to the Supreme Court from a bank robbery that happened in Richmond, Virginia, in 2019.
From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026
The case was brought by Okello Chatrie, identified as a suspect in a 2019 Virginia bank robbery after investigators obtained a warrant to search cellphone location data stored by Google.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
Soon afterwards, investigating officers became convinced they had their men and the Cardiff Newsagent Three were all charged with murder and robbery before going on trial in June 1988.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
His confused emotions had made him feel instinctively that it would be better to fight Gus and spoil the plan of the robbery than to confront a white man with a gun.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
How much will this hamper future criminal investigations of robberies, assaults, and other serious crimes?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
She was moved to Lower Saxony, where many of the robberies had taken place, to stand trial.
From BBC ● May 27, 2026
Court records from the Old Bailey reveal that people often prioritized their hats over money during robberies.
From Science Daily ● May 7, 2026
Feigin, the Justice Department attorney, said a ruling for Chatrie “would impede the investigation of kidnappings, robberies, shootings and other crimes.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2026
Nobody wanted to know anything at all about the robberies.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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.
