rob
verb (used with object)
to take something from (someone) by unlawful force or threat of violence; steal from.
Showing results for rob.
Search instead for
to rob.
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)
-
(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
-
robsimple
-
robssimple
-
have robbedperfect
-
has robbedperfect
-
am robbingprogressive
-
are robbingprogressive
-
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:
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
“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
She seemed to think it just as natural that “they” should want to rob you of your pleasures as that you should want to avoid being caught.
From "1984" by George Orwell
Rob Wassell, 58, had to wait more than two years following the death of his brother until he finally received the lump sum from his civil service pension on Tuesday.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
“The demand environment continues to be very robust, supporting our 2027 revenue outlook, with customer demand forecasts meaningfully higher for 2028,” Chair and CEO Rob Mionis said in a statement.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026
Royal duty can be formal, even distant at times, but the story of Rob Burrow, his family and his friend Sir Kevin has clearly made an impact on a future King.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026
In the 1930s, Cooper sold costumes for vaudeville, says Rob Caprilozzi, founder of the Horror News Network website, who recently made a documentary about Cooper.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026
In addition to guides Rob Hall and Andy Harris there was Helen Wilton, a thirty-nine-year-old mother of four, who was returning for her third season as Base Camp manager.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
“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
It robs them of the one thing my father’s midnight taxi shifts gave me: the knowledge that I could do it myself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 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
I think losing a parent robs confidence from a kid.
From "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" by A.S. King
His absence has been keenly felt as it has robbed Carrick of his only orthodox number nine.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
But only about 830,000 cellphones were reported stolen or robbed in 2025, according to the annual report, which draws on police data.
From Barron's ● Sep. 29, 2026
Kim Kardashian was awarded 1 euro in damages for being the target of an armed heist in 2016 at the Hôtel de Pourtalès in Paris, where she was robbed of millions in jewelry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 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
They didn’t run out screaming about being robbed.
From "Among the Hidden" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
"It feels like Supermarket Sweep - I feel like I'm robbing the place," she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 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
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
The magic had been working on me all this time, wrapping me up in tight tangles, robbing me of my control.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
