rob
verb (used with object)
to take something from (someone) by unlawful force or threat of violence; steal from.
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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
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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)
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robs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
robbed,
past participle, past
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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:
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 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
He went on to urge graduates not to let fear rob them of personal agency—a fine, saccharine message.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
Malachy and Michael look shocked over the way I got the bread and lemonade but then Malachy says it was only what Robin Hood would have done, rob the rich and give to the poor.
From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt
To counter this, adviser Rob Schultz in Encino, Calif., advises his clients to pay attention to the titling of assets, especially in community-property states.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
Then, Director of Data Journalism Rob Barry joins Deputy Editor in Chief Aja Whitaker-Moore to explore how WSJ is using AI to measure public sentiment and online conversation about the election.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
Other highlights from the Emmy pre-ceremonies were a posthumous award for Rob Reiner for best guest actor in a comedy for "The Bear," and seven prizes for Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show.
From Barron's ● Sep. 12, 2026
“We had the biggest action star in the world. He’s going to show action,” said Rob Stutzman, who worked as one of Schwarzenegger’s top advisors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
In fact, Rob was deliberately running other stories and links ahead of my columns, in order to get some information out before the site went down as readers rushed to respond.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
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
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
“The theft that occurred represents a brazen act that robs the public of our state’s cultural heritage,” said museum Chief Executive Lori Fogarty in a statement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2025
“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
Von Saher has previously said her family "aims to bring back every single artwork robbed from Jacques' collection, and to restore his legacy".
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
She said she felt the experience robbed her of her sanctuary.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 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
But now, authorities have officially exonerated him — acknowledging his innocence in the 1998 Fullerton heist that robbed him of nearly two decades of his life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
“Well, you get in it and go back to Jefferson. If you find them, it wont be in my show. I run a respectable show. You say they robbed you?”
From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
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
Related inflation concerns could still keep the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates, he cautioned, robbing small caps and other interest-rate-sensitive stocks of a key source of support.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 9, 2026
Here huge silver poplars towered above the cabin, their roots extending like giant claws, making the ground rough and robbing it of grass.
From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt
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.
