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
-
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 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
“This groundwater mining proposal would drain the desert and rob the Mojave of its rare springs and wildlife habitat,” said Chance Wilcox, California desert associate director of the National Parks Conservation Assn.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia are so frightening because they threaten to rob us of the very essence of our history and being.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
He demonstrated strength and awareness to rob Tunisia captain Ellyes Skhiri and set up a goal for strike partner Viktor Gyokeres in the second half.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
Prison and the authorities conspire to rob each man of his dignity.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Rob Dinerman, a squash historian, said Niederhoffer didn’t look or act like a squash player.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
However, during a press conference Tuesday afternoon, California Attorney General Rob Bonta declined to confirm whether Zuckerberg would be called to the stand.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
Gen. Rob Bonta and his coalition of 11 other states to prepare to set aside as much as $1.9 billion as the Warner Bros.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
"It's a way of showing how smart you are," said Rob Lalka, a business professor at Tulane University.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
“Hey, Gerald, what’s up, man?” asked Rob as he changed his shoes.
From "Forged by Fire" by Sharon M. Draper
Also, giving properties as gifts, rather than as inheritances, robs them of their tax-advantaged step-up in basis.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 16, 2026
Its inscrutability to ordinary people is part of what robs the document of whatever power it may have had at a third the length.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
Humorous responses to rage bait, which depends on eliciting defensiveness that can be fed back into the outrage machine, robs it of oxygen.
From Salon ● Dec. 8, 2025
The loaded narrative robs the picture of more time with Gary and Pawbert, even if Bush finds plot-effective ways to feature the supporting mammals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2025
Looking at food that way robs us of one of life’s greatest pleasures.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
Only a late driveshaft failure robbed him of victory.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
He became a suspect after a clerk at a dry cleaners that had been robbed saw Brambles at a motel and called police.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
All of this is familiar from before, but robbed of the expressive capacity of animation it ends up feeling considerably more wooden.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Had the advent of intensive parenting robbed the holiday of its spark?
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
And there’s Hilda, who is always worried Imre will be robbed because he sells diamond rings on Forty-Seventh Street, and their children, Eva and Ezra, who are too shy to talk.
From "Lucky Broken Girl" by Ruth Behar
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
Because while the Olympics may help the sport gather viewers, it has done little to reverse a steady decline in participation at the grassroots level, which is robbing the sport of its future athletes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2025
“Well, don’t make it sound like you’re robbing the cradle or something,” Dimple said.
From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon
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.
