burglar

/ˈbʌrglər/

/ˈbʌglə/

Other forms: burglars

Use the word burglar when you're talking about someone who steals things from inside a house or a building.

A burglar often breaks a window or forces a lock, intending to take valuable items. The act of doing this is burglary, and to do it is to burglarize in the United States, or to burgle in Britain. In the 1540's, burglar was a short form of the word burglator, from the Latin burgare, "to break open."

Definitions of burglar

1. noun

   a thief who enters a building with intent to steal
   types:

   cat burglar, housebreaker

   a burglar who unlawfully breaks into and enters another person's house

   type of:

   stealer, thief

   a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it