Meaning of theft in English

theft

noun [ C or U ]

/θeft/ us

/θeft/

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(the act of) dishonestly taking something that belongs to someone else and keeping it:

Unfortunately, we have had several thefts in the building recently.

Shoplifting is theft.

Synonyms

larceny specialized

thieving formal

See also

thief

More examplesFewer examples

She was found guilty of theft, but because of extenuating circumstances was not sent to prison.
There's been an increase in minor offences, such as traffic violations and petty theft.
Unfortunately, the police have dealt with the problem of car theft in a reactive rather than a proactive way.
He was remanded on theft charges.
We rang the insurance company to report the theft.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Stealing

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(Definition of theft from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

theft | American Dictionary

theft

noun [ C/U ]

/θeft/

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the act of taking something that belongs to someone else and keeping it; stealing:

[ U ] car theft

(Definition of theft from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

theft | Business English

theft

noun [ C or U ]

LAW

/θeft/ us

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the crime of illegally taking something that belongs to someone else:

theft of sth They are taking legal action over the theft of copyrighted images sold by competing websites.

theft from sb/sth a daring theft from the company's offices

Four employees were arrested for theft of IBM memory cards.

See also

identity theft

third party, fire and theft

(Definition of theft from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of theft

theft

The commerce and theft of the two armies certainly suggests mercenary objectives rather than the close cooperation of allies.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Besides disorderly conduct, the police increasingly arrested young people for theft.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These contacts are needed to overcome problems of theft and damage, secure access to reliable information, and settle administrative procedures.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Figure 1 presents the shape of the trajectory groups for the three dependent variables: physical aggression, vandalism, and theft.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The respective probabilities for the two groups were 31.0 versus 18.3% for physical aggression, 64.3 versus 46.1% for vandalism, and 31.0 versus 27.0% for theft.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Theft of factory property or the destruction of tools or machines led to fifty blows and a fine equal to the value of the property.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Their offences were often petty, consisting of minor thefts rather than white-collar crimes.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The theft of materials from the sidings, freight yards and railway works was a particularly notable crime to arise from the operation of the railways.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These firms now see new markets and sell 'identity theft security' to the public.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These days, they do so barely more often than they admit to engaging in ' illicit ' practices like bribery or theft.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The author of the ransom note blaming park workers for the theft was never found and is beside the point.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The factory discovered that it could not remove them from work, even for theft.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Through right reason, the pagan knows that adultery and theft are wrong and is able to follow the dictates of right reason.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The evidence of group theft, on the other hand, may merely show that they felt that the practice increased their chances of escape, if discovered.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Domestic goods, cloth and clothing appeared in about 40 per cent of theft indictments (clothing alone in at least a quarter).

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with theft

theft

These are words often used in combination with theft.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

act of theft

His act of theft does not generate any increase in what he can claim on the basis of absolute desert.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

art theft

The distinguishing feature between art theft in the developed world's museums and those in the developing world has been the way in which they have been conducted.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

car theft

A contract to steal a car should be unenforceable, because car theft should be discouraged.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with theft

What is the pronunciation of theft?

Translations of theft

in Chinese (Traditional)

盜竊, 偷竊行為…

Meaning of theft in English

theft | American Dictionary

theft | Business English

Examples of theft

Collocations with theft

theft

Translations of theft

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