pilfer
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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pilfers,
present (3rd person singular)
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pilfered,
past participle, past
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pilfering
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
pilfersimple
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pilferssimple
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have pilferedperfect
-
has pilferedperfect
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am pilferingprogressive
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are pilferingprogressive
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is pilferingprogressive
-
have been pilferingperfect progressive
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has been pilferingperfect progressive
Past
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pilferedsimple
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had pilferedperfect
-
was pilferingprogressive
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were pilferingprogressive
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had been pilferingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pilfer
1540–50; v. use of late Middle English pilfre booty < Middle French pelfre. See pelf
Explanation
To pilfer is to steal something, typically of small value. Minor thefts, like taking a roll of toilet paper out of a public bathroom or napkins from the Early Bird Buffet are what your grandfather, for example, might pilfer. The verb pilfer comes from the Old French noun pelfre, meaning “booty,” or “spoils.” Now pilfer is used when talking about the act of stealing loot: you may find that you have to really restrain yourself from the desire to pilfer your friend’s new fur-lined gloves, even though you're pretty sure she pilfered your headphones. Robin Hood was able to pilfer from the rich to give to the poor.
Vocabulary lists containing pilfer
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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This Week in Pop Culture: August 10–16, 2019
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A Long Way from Chicago
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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:
Harvey initially came under investigation in early 2024 and authorities charge that he continued to pilfer shoes even after he knew that police were onto him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
The company says it’s beefing up security protocols to make it harder for hackers to use stolen credentials or access tools to pilfer data.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 16, 2024
Still, they ignited conspiracy theories that caused people to pilfer the county-issued pens — and prompted officials to switch out the brand for the general election.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 7, 2022
There's never a need to pilfer through your cabinets, to be knocked over in a cascade of plastic storage containers à la those decades old infomercials, or to haphazardly use a cumbersome espresso maker.
From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2022
I head toward the kitchen to see what I can pilfer before dinner.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Website publishers, particularly media outlets, say that AI pilfers their content without compensation to feed its models.
From Barron's ● Jan. 28, 2026
By night, she pilfers baking chocolate from her hosts’ kitchens and gobbles cake crumbs at parties.
From New York Times ● May 15, 2023
Locals in the town of Munnar, near Padayappa's habitat, call him a "gentle giant" who has never hurt anyone, even though he occasionally pilfers food from their homes and farms at night.
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2023
And here’s the worst part: If a company ultimately pilfers inventions or trade secrets or anything else from users, it will already be too late.
From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2012
He had kept it hidden--she had not known where--he had taken some of it himself--pilfered some of it like a boy pilfers sugar--he had died of it.
From Absolution by Clara Viebig
Historically, authorities have clawed back pilfered funds about 75% of the time when scams were reported within 72 hours, said the FBI’s Lynch.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
Add in recent cemetery thefts in Nebraska, North Dakota, New Mexico, Washington: Across the nation, American graveyards are being pilfered.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026
Nick Frost pilfered two Lions line-outs as they turned the screw.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2025
The heavy and double-walled steel structure of the machine is also less likely to be pilfered from than stores with ammunition sitting on an open shelf.
From Slate ● Aug. 12, 2024
Hal arrives with an overstuffed portfolio of maps torn from atlases and pilfered from AAA.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
What’s more, China has a history of pilfering technology to get ahead: In 2025, one in five European companies in China said that Chinese firms had stolen technology.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
Yes, using the DOJ’s website, users are pilfering software and documents from the Epstein files.
From Slate ● Feb. 3, 2026
He probably feels more awful about his after-hours pilfering than you do.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 24, 2025
From pilfering chips to swallowing whole starfish, gulls are known for their voracious appetites.
From BBC ● Feb. 21, 2025
We both ended up acing the test, but that episode kind of took the excitement out of climbing and pilfering tests and pretty much everything else.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
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.
