Word.ws English Dictionary

burglarize

/ˈbɜː(ɹ)ɡləɹaɪz/

burglarize verb: to commit burglary.

Verb

burglarize (third-person singular simple present burglarizes, present participle burglarizing, simple past and past participle burglarized)

  1. (Canada, US, ambitransitive) To commit burglary.
    • People who would now attempt to burglarize in top-boots, would be as mad as if they were to adopt that costume for picking pockets.1829 July 5, [[[w:William Hazlitt|William Hazlitt]]?], “The Advantages of Committing Burglary in cuerpo Elucidated”, in The Atlas, London, page 442
    • [M]en exclaim against you as the most bungling of "cabbagers" ... that ever burglarised upon the property of Shakespeare!1839 December 7, "Mustard-Seed", “To Sir Charles Shaw, K. C. T. S., &c., &c.”, in Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, Manchester, page 6
    Synonyms:
    burgle

Examples of burglarize in a sentence

  • In this dilemma there were but two resources open to the infuriated stewards, -- one to carry the key vi et armis; the other, to burglarize the cellar.1840 May 1, "Shamrock", “Steeple-Chasing in Ireland”, in The Sporting Review, London, page 364:
  • Deaseley Brothers & Dodge, wholesale dry goods store, was burglarized last night, and three thousand dollars worth of silks taken.1856 November 1, Louisville Daily Courier, Louisville, KY, page 3:
  • I also told you my house had been thoroughly burglarized three times,1856 December 16, "The London Scoundrel", “A Plea for the Gallows (Letter to the Editor)”, in The Times, London, page 10:
  • We see in a telegraphic despatch from across the boundary line that a store was "burglarized" a short time ago.1865 September, Upper Canada Law Journal, Toronto, page 228:

Synonyms of burglarize

Forms of burglarize

third-person singular presentburglarizes
present participleburglarizing
past participleburglarized
pastburglarized
alternative formburglarise

Origin of burglarize

From burglar + -ize (1829).

Words formed from burglarize

Questions about burglarize

What does burglarize mean?
Burglarize means to commit burglary.
How do you use burglarize in a sentence?
In this dilemma there were but two resources open to the infuriated stewards, -- one to carry the key vi et armis; the other, to burglarize the cellar.
What part of speech is burglarize?
Burglarize is a verb.
How do you pronounce burglarize?
Burglarize is pronounced /ˈbɜː(ɹ)ɡləɹaɪz/.
What is the past tense of burglarize?
The past tense of burglarize is burglarized.

Words near burglarize in the dictionary

  1. burglarised
  2. burglariser
  3. burglarisers
  4. burglarises
  5. burglarising
  6. burglarize
  7. burglarized
  8. burglarizer
  9. burglarizers
  10. burglarizes
  11. burglarizing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: burglarize (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-burglarize.wav.

Cite this entry: “burglarize.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/burglarize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.