burglarize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
burglarizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
burglarized,
past participle, past
-
burglarizing
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
burglarizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
burglarized,
past participle, past
-
burglarizing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
burglarizesimple
-
burglarizessimple
-
have burglarizedperfect
-
has burglarizedperfect
-
am burglarizingprogressive
-
are burglarizingprogressive
-
is burglarizingprogressive
-
have been burglarizingperfect progressive
-
has been burglarizingperfect progressive
Past
-
burglarizedsimple
-
had burglarizedperfect
-
was burglarizingprogressive
-
were burglarizingprogressive
-
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
As thousands demonstrated in Washington this week to protest racial inequality and police brutality, scores of people used the civil unrest as a chaotic cover to burglarize businesses, according to police data and arrest records.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 5, 2020
In another development, someone this week apparently tried to burglarize the hospital mortuary where Kim’s body is awaiting positive identification.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2017
“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
In wet weather, when his vestibule is shallow, the sand-hill crane may burglarize him, or even get a snap judgment on him at the front door.
From Lippincott's Magazine, December, 1885 by Various
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
Then there’s the recent hooliganism of an OpenAI model, which escaped a testing environment, stole credentials of multiple private-company servers, then burglarized one to steal the answer to a problem-solving challenge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 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
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
The woman first reported that her home — which is located in a remote area of Lovelock, north of Magalia — was burglarized on April 17.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 28, 2025
Beholden to paying clients, they were widely seen as surreptitious figures who burglarized people’s secrets.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
A man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of burglarizing a Hidden Hills home owned by Kim Kardashian and stealing one of her cars, according to a law enforcement source.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
According to the probation report, Prowell, who is Black, admitted burglarizing the houses in Beverly Hills.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2025
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
The procession had scarcely passed when we were suddenly seized with anxiety at the idea that the time was particularly propitious for burglarizing deserted apartments and we rushed home.
From My Recollections by Jules Massenet
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.
