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)
-
robs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
robbed,
past participle, past
-
robbing
present participle
-
to take something from (someone) by unlawful force or threat of violence; steal from.
-
to deprive (someone) of some right or something legally due.
They robbed her of her inheritance.
-
to plunder or rifle (a house, shop, etc.).
-
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.
-
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
-
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
-
am robbingprogressive
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are robbingprogressive
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is robbingprogressive
-
have been robbingperfect progressive
-
has been robbingperfect progressive
Past
-
robbedsimple
-
had robbedperfect
-
was robbingprogressive
-
were robbingprogressive
-
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:
These are the things that we stay alive for, and well, that’s exactly what AI threatens to rob from the human race.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
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
Without her example, would Taylor Swift have stood up to the hedge funds who bought her back catalogue, re-recording her biggest hits to rob them of royalties?
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 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
This didn’t mean that twenty per cent of the people were free to rob the other eighty per cent of the means to live.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
Guest: Rob Flaherty, political strategist and founder of Tomorrow Together, a tech-focused political action committee.
From Slate ● Nov. 6, 2026
The analysts, led by Alessio Mastrandrea and Rob Barnett, believe that Bloom Energy can capitalize on the AI-fueled power constraints.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2026
“We’re in a much more stable environment than where we were a year ago or certainly even two years ago,” Chief Executive Rob Chambers said in an interview.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
The utility companies are not popular, said Rob Stutzman, a GOP strategist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026
Rob smiled at me, all of his teeth showing.
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
There are plenty of critics who insist there is little or no proper use of AI in the university, since it enables cheating and robs students of the challenge of truly learning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 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
It robs the Games of another big name, and Team Scotland of a poster girl.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
“Because,” Natalie said, “it looks like every single one of these bills is either a one or a five. If someone robs a bank, they take twenties, at least. Probably even fifties or hundreds.”
From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
But is that because dementia has robbed Leslie of the ability to modulate her urges?
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
Rising debt without a financial-market revolt robbed hawks of credibility and made prominent economists rethink the conventional wisdom on debt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2026
Some residents, however, say the state has robbed them of any input over developments they consider bad neighbors.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026
The Joy News sports journalist says he was robbed by two different employees in the four years he has run his electronics shop.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026
A man called after them, “You kids musta robbed a bank to buy such a big tree.”
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
"It feels like Supermarket Sweep - I feel like I'm robbing the place," she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
“Without Congress, failed professionals will continue to use college sports as a fallback option — robbing the next class of young athletes of college scholarships,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 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
All that fouling is hindering Brink’s development because it’s robbing her of important in-game reps — which she needs, foremost, to figure out how to stop fouling.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
“It’s very old looking. Been robbing the royal coffer, have you?”
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
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