Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use steal in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Steal means to take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else without intending to return it. Example: “Three irreplaceable paintings were stolen from the gallery.”

Examples of steal by meaning

verbTo take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else without intending to return it.

  • Three irreplaceable paintings were stolen from the gallery.
  • The problem is the two bicycles stolen from us.
  • They stole all my money (from me).

verbTo appropriate without giving credit or acknowledgement.

  • They stole my idea for a biodegradable, disposable garbage de-odorizer.

verbTo get or effect surreptitiously or artfully.

  • He stole glances at the pretty woman across the street.

verbTo acquire at a low price.

  • He stole the car for two thousand less than its book value.
  • He got that car for two grand under book? Wow, he stole that thing!

verbTo move silently or secretly; to pass unnoticed.

  • He stole across the room, trying not to wake her.
  • Dawn was stealing over the mountaintops.
  • The window shook, and Rebecca stole like a cat and wedged it.1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter 1, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC...

verbTo convey (something) clandestinely.

  • The fact that European Cuckoos steal their eggs into the nests of other birds has been generally known for more than a thousand years.1948, Alec H. Chisholm, Bird Wonders of Australia, page 41

verbTo borrow for a short moment.

  • Can I steal your pen?

nounA piece of merchandise available at a very low, attractive price; the act of buying it.

  • At this price, this car is a steal.
  • He got that thing for just twenty bucks? What a steal!

More sentences with steal

  • At that price, it’s not just a bargain, it’s a steal.From the entry bargain
  • The detective was puzzled by the fiendish plot to steal the diamonds.From the entry fiendish
  • If you detect a person shop stealing, report it to the police.From the entry shop steal
  • I aggroed the dragon by stealing from its hoard, and it killed me.From the entry aggro
  • Their pressure defense gives them a lot of fast breaks off of steals.From the entry fast break
  • With his cheating, lying and stealing, he epitomised the impurity of humanity.From the entry impurity
  • Even stealing a pack of gum is an infraction in the eyes of the law.From the entry infraction
  • Your boss really shafted you by stealing your idea like that.From the entry shaft
  • I hate to be flip, but perhaps we could steal a Christmas tree.From the entry flip
  • His mother gave him a drubbing after finding out he'd been stealing.From the entry drubbing
  • Not many people have gotten away with stealing that much money.From the entry get away with
  • Toshing, a cant word for stealing copper sheathing from vessels' bottoms, or from dock-yard stores.From the entry tosh
  • He begged for forgiveness after being caught stealing from the shop.From the entry forgiveness
  • While looting the stores the looters took the opportunity for revenge by destroying what they didn't steal.From the entry looting
  • Ever since he was caught stealing office supplies, he has been on thin ice with his boss.From the entry on thin ice
  • It was mean of you to steal that little girl's piggy bank.From the entry mean
  • The team is known to try the double steal because it has so many speedsters.From the entry double steal
  • The team has pulled off three double steals in this game.From the entry double steals
  • She put up a fight when the mugger tried to steal her purse.From the entry put up a fight
  • He put it about that she had been stealing company money.From the entry put it about
  • He pushed and shoved his way to the stage to steal the microphone from the singer.From the entry push and shove
  • I saw you steal those sweets. Now you're for the high jump!From the entry for the high jump
  • OK, I'll put my hand up to stealing the car, but not to robbing the off-licence.From the entry put one's hand up
  • OK, I'll put my hands up to stealing the car, but not to robbing the off-licence.From the entry put one's hands up
  • Say your family is starving and you don't have any money, is it okay to steal some food?From the entry say
  • I just know that the nanosecond I take my eyes off my phone, somebody's going to steal it.From the entry nanosecond

Meaning of steal

  1. verb To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else without intending to return it.
  2. verb To appropriate without giving credit or acknowledgement.
  3. verb To get or effect surreptitiously or artfully.

Full definition of steal

Questions about steal in a sentence

How do you use steal in a sentence?
Steal is used as a verb and noun. For example: “Three irreplaceable paintings were stolen from the gallery.”
What is a short sentence with steal?
“Can I steal your pen?”
What does steal mean?
Steal means to take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else without intending to return it.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: steal (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use steal in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/steal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.