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.

Evolution has similarly purloined existing features and modified them, using great thrift, for example, to transmogrify a piece of jaw into an ear or to transform a leg into a wing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 2025

Four middle-aged suspects were arrested in Southern California this week when officers found them in possession of roughly $300,000 worth of purloined Lego sets, according to the California Highway Patrol.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2024

Stealthily, from its roost on the ceiling, one bat reached out and purloined his sun hat.

From New York Times • Apr. 4, 2023

The task of finding the missing millions and those who purloined it falls to May de Silva, the country's Anti-Corruption Commissioner.

From BBC • Jan. 11, 2022

It is curious how sometimes the memory of death lives on for so much longer than the memory of the life that it purloined.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy