Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of larcenous
Explanation
Someone who's larcenous has a tendency to steal things. You can describe a classmate as larcenous if she proudly shows off the candy she's stolen from the corner store. Pickpockets, car thieves, and politicians who accept bribes are all larcenous — they are all motivated by a desire for financial gain and a willingness to take things that don't belong to them. This adjective comes from larceny, a fancy way to say "theft." Both words have their roots in the Latin latrocinium, "robbery," which comes from latro, "robber or bandit."
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.
Coop’s larcenous ways awaken something in him that the straight-laced corporate life had repressed.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026
Above and beyond is Bonnie Milligan, portraying Pattie’s larcenous sister Debra, a woman of no known address but who might be elected president if she could redirect that cyclonic energy away from antisocial impulses.
From Washington Post • Nov. 10, 2022
‘Time Bandits’ A British lad joins six larcenous little people on the adventure of a lifetime in Monty Python mainstay Terry Gilliam’s 1981 fantasy comedy.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 16, 2022
Or in the current instance, Harry Palmer, the larcenous soldier turned secret agent of the 1965 Cold War thriller “The Ipcress File,” which has been remade as a six-episode series that premieres Thursday on AMC+.
From New York Times • May 18, 2022
I knew Mrs. Joe’s housekeeping to be of the strictest kind, and that my larcenous researches might find nothing available in the safe.
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
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.
