rob
verb (used with object)
to take something from (someone) by unlawful force or threat of violence; steal from.
rob
1 American
[rob]
/ rɒb /
verb (used with object)
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robs,
present (3rd person singular)
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robbed,
past participle, past
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robbing
present participle
-
to take something from (someone) by unlawful force or threat of violence; steal from.
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to deprive (someone) of some right or something legally due.
They robbed her of her inheritance.
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to plunder or rifle (a house, shop, etc.).
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to deprive of something unjustly or injuriously.
The team was robbed of a home run hitter when the umpire called it a foul ball. The shock robbed him of his speech.
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Mining. to remove ore or coal from (a pillar).
verb (used without object)
-
robs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
robbed,
past participle, past
-
robbing
present participle
idioms
Rob
2
American
[rob]
/ rɒb /
noun
rob
British
/ rɒb /
verb
-
(tr) to take something from (someone) illegally, as by force or threat of violence
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to plunder (a house, shop, etc)
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(tr) to deprive unjustly
to be robbed of an opportunity
Usage
What does rob mean? To rob is to steal, especially by force or through threats of violence. A person who robs is called a robber, and the act of robbing is called robbery. A robber can rob a person or a place, such as a house or business. The act of robbing a person on the street is often called mugging. The act of robbing a bank is called bank robbery and a person who does it is called a bank robber. Armed robbery involves robbing a person or place while armed with a weapon. Rob and steal are often used interchangeably in terms of their general meaning, but their use within a sentence often differs. The word rob often focuses on the victim of the theft (whether it’s a person or a place), whereas steal often focuses on what has been stolen. So you can rob a bank, a person, or a house, whereas you steal money, diamonds, or cars. A bank robber doesn’t steal banks (unless they’re Carmen Sandiego, maybe)—they steal money from banks. However, the word rob is sometimes followed by the word of and the thing that’s been taken, as in She robbed me of thousands of dollars! The word rob can also be used in a kind of figurative way meaning to unfairly deprive someone of something, especially something abstract or intangible. If someone prevents you from doing something, you can say they robbed you of the chance to do it. Death is said to rob us of our loved ones. If someone loses a competition not because they were fairly defeated but because of some technicality, they might say “I was robbed!”Unrelatedly, the name Rob is short for Robert. Example: The suspect is accused of robbing seven banks during a three-month period.
Synonym Usage
Rob, rifle, sack refer to seizing possessions that belong to others. Rob is the general word for taking possessions by unlawful force or violence: to rob a bank, a house, a train. A term with a more restricted meaning is rifle, to make a thorough search for what is valuable or worthwhile, usually within a small space: to rifle a safe. On the other hand, sack is a term for robbery on a huge scale during war; it suggests destruction accompanying pillage, and often includes the indiscriminate massacre of civilians: to sack a town or district.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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robsimple
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robssimple
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have robbedperfect
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has robbedperfect
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am robbingprogressive
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are robbingprogressive
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is robbingprogressive
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have been robbingperfect progressive
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has been robbingperfect progressive
Past
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robbedsimple
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had robbedperfect
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was robbingprogressive
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were robbingprogressive
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had been robbingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of rob
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English robben, from Old French robber, from Germanic; compare Old High German roubōn. See reave 1
Explanation
To rob is to steal something using violence (or the threat of violence). A criminal might rob a bank by pretending to have a weapon. Use the verb rob when you're talking about a crime — like when a bandit robs a train in the movies, or an outlaw robs the general store on TV. You can also use it to mean "deprive," as in "Having to ride my bike to school is only going to rob me of my energy by the time I get there." Rob comes from the Old French rober, "rob, steal, or ransack."
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 fall can rob older people of the very independence that they are trying to preserve by carrying out those tasks.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
Data that sit in silos rob machine-learning models and AI agents of much of their power.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
A World Cup without European teams would rob it of three out of four semi-finalists from this summer's competition and six of the eight quarter-finalists.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
He made a full-speed tumbling catch in the right-field gap to rob Austin Wells of an extra-base hit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
They bargained for a while and then the young woman shouted, “If you want to rob people, then do so. Don’t say you are selling garri for that price.”
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Sarah Olney, MP for Richmond Park, and Rob Blackie, who ran in 2024, are both candidates for the Lib Dem nomination.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
“He’s not this executive coach managing things from on high,” said Rob Ash, a consultant who advises the Crimson on play-calling and strategy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
As well as being great friends in real life, they have also worked together repeatedly, including in their travel show, Rob & Romesh Vs.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
The official cause of death for Fiona Lowe, the 13-year-old daughter of actor Chad Lowe and niece of Rob Lowe, has been revealed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
I wondered if Rob had given the other rifle to Martin.
From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken
“Poverty is not just about quality of life. It literally robs older Americans of longevity,” said Ramsey Alwin, president and chief executive of the National Council on Aging.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
When Howl loses himself to a beastly form after attacking opposing forces in the war into which he’s drawn, it’s an allegory about how armed conflict robs us of our humanity.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
But the absence of warmth in the performance robs the denouement of a portion of its awful pathos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026
ALS, a progressive and terminal motor neuron disease, robs a person of the ability to move and, ultimately, to breathe, according to the Mayo Clinic.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026
It robs you of hope and even the memory of hope.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
After being robbed, Lo Bianco blocked her bank cards, but the thieves managed to transfer almost $700 from a digital bank account.
From Barron's ● Sep. 29, 2026
According to the AP, a former receptionist at the Hôtel de Pourtalès, where the fashion mogul was staying when she was robbed, was awarded the equivalent of $126,472 in the civil damages ruling.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
But, as Crow-Armstrong put it to Kelly, “When I do something for too long, it stops feeling comfortable, and I feel like I’m being robbed of my athleticism.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
In an essay written by Jake on his Substack in April, he expressed being robbed of many milestone moments following his parents’ deaths.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
No sign of the wolf who'd robbed me, and no sign of my Adidas bag.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
Not only in the sheer existence of the AI itself, which is comprised of literal stolen material, but in robbing creators of their process.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Data-center titans buy huge amounts of memory at higher prices, robbing Apple of its leverage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
Now Spirit is gone, robbing us all of the airline likeliest to pester United, Delta, and American into lowering their prices more quickly once fuel prices go down.
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
Data from Vanda Research and others have shown that retail buying has been subdued lately, robbing the market of what had become a critical source of demand for stocks.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 11, 2026
I remember choking on nectar and pulp as the horrible bliss of the everapple stole over me, robbing me of caring even that I was dying.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
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.
