thievery

/ˈθivəri/

Other forms: thieveries

Use the noun thievery when you need a colorful, old fashioned way to describe stealing: you might complain bitterly about the thievery in your neighborhood after having your third bicycle stolen in a month.

If you're worried about thievery, you might install a burglar alarm or get a big barking dog. A more common way to say thievery is theft, or in a police report, larceny. It's easy to see where the word thievery comes from — to thieve is to steal, and both words come from the Old English root þeof, or thief.

Definitions of thievery

1. noun

   the act of taking something from someone unlawfully
   synonyms: larceny, stealing, theft, thieving

   types:

   breach of trust with fraudulent intent

   larceny after trust rather than after unlawful taking

   defalcation, embezzlement, misapplication, misappropriation, peculation

   the fraudulent appropriation of funds or property entrusted to your care but actually owned by someone else

   pilferage

   the act of stealing small amounts or small articles

   shoplifting, shrinkage

   the act of stealing goods that are on display in a store

   robbery

   larceny by threat of violence

   biopiracy

   biological theft; illegal collection of indigenous plants by corporations who patent them for their own use

   grand larceny, grand theft

   larceny of property having a value greater than some amount (the amount varies by locale)

   petit larceny, petty, petty larceny

   larceny of property having a value less than some amount (the amount varies by locale)

   skimming

   failure to declare income in order to avoid paying taxes on it

   rustling

   the stealing of cattle

   raid

   an attempt by speculators to defraud investors

   plunderage

   the act of plundering (especially the embezzlement of goods on shipboard)

   armed robbery, heist, holdup, stickup

   robbery at gunpoint

   caper, job

   a crime (especially a robbery)

   dacoity, dakoity

   robbery by a gang of armed dacoits

   heist, rip-off

   the act of stealing

   highjacking, hijacking

   robbery of a traveller or vehicle in transit or seizing control of a vehicle by the use of force

   highway robbery

   robbery of travellers on or near a public road

   rolling

   the act of robbing a helpless person

   type of:

   felony

   a serious crime (such as murder or arson)