robber
Americannoun
Usage
What does robber mean? A robber is a person who robs—steals, especially by force or through threats of violence.In other words, a robber is someone who commits robbery.A robber can rob a person or a place, such as a house or business. A robber who robs a person on the street is often called a mugger. A person who robs a bank is called a bank robber and the act of doing this is called bank robbery. An armed robber is a person who commits armed robbery, which involves robbing a person or place while armed with a weapon.A robber is a kind of thief, which is a person who steals things. However, the word thief usually refers to a person who steals without anyone noticing, at least not when the theft is taking place. In contrast, a person who steals by using force, violence, or threats of force or violence would more likely be called a robber.The word rob can also be used in a kind of figurative way meaning to unfairly deprive someone of something, but robber is only used to refer to someone who robs in the literal sense.Example: Police have released sketches of the suspects in the hopes that someone can identify the bank robbers.
Related Words
See thief.
Etymology
Origin of robber
First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English robbere, from Old French robere. See rob, -er 1
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.
In 2007, he was given a police award for bravery after tackling a robber who was attacking a delivery man with a baseball bat.
From BBC
"Ludicrously, one of their concerns was that the robber was a 'customer'."
From BBC
The boy then finds all sorts of creative ways to fend off robbers, while Mom melts down once she realizes they left him behind.
From Los Angeles Times
Ours is a history in which New York robber barons used the promise of belonging to splinter the poor into factions and manipulate them into fighting among themselves during the Gilded Age.
From Los Angeles Times
“Boomer, who are the main robbers around here?”
From Literature
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.
