pickpocket
Americannoun
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pickpockets
plural
verb (used with object)
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to steal (a wallet, money, etc.) in the manner of a pickpocket.
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to steal from (a person) in the manner of a pickpocket.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pickpocket
Explanation
A pickpocket is a criminal who steals things from people's pockets or bags. Your grandmother might warn you to be on the lookout for pickpockets when you travel to Paris. Pickpockets take advantage of crowded situations to slide wallets, phones, and cash out of victims' pockets, and when they do this, you can say that they pickpocket. Probably the most famous literary pickpocket is Charles Dickens' character The Artful Dodger, from "Oliver Twist." Before pickpocket was coined, around 1590, they were called pick-purses, for obvious reasons.
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:
A delivery driver by day, he started filming pickpocket moments after saying he witnessed them almost daily, before posting them online.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2025
Are you ever concerned that you’re calling out a person who is not actually a pickpocket?
From New York Times ● Jul. 25, 2023
His initial meeting with Grace, a pickpocket he picks up because she may hold a key to the keys, is flat, rather than charming.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2023
She passes like a ponytailed Pistol Pete Maravich and she has the sticky fingers of a subway pickpocket.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 29, 2023
“Act One, Scene Six is the pickpocket scene, right?” asks Taylor, because she's also the kind of person who pretends to ask a question just to show off what she already knows.
From "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli
Success in each was measured by a made cut, modest lodgings and avoiding pickpockets on trains.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
The area has been targeted by pickpockets, and Rome officials have debated different ways of regulating access for years.
From Barron's ● Dec. 19, 2025
It continues by advising travellers to be vigilant for pickpockets and muggers, to limit headphone and mobile phone use in public, to be mindful of alcohol consumption and to keep a low profile.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2023
Sometimes Ms. Poli and her fellow amateur watchdogs will report these suspected pickpockets to the police.
From New York Times ● Jul. 25, 2023
Unlike Western cities, Tiwanaku had no markets—no bazaars full of shouting, bargaining, conniving entrepreneurs; no street displays of produce, pottery, and plonk; no jugglers and mimes trying to attract crowds; no pickpockets.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
