steal
/stiːl/
steal verb: to take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else without intending to return it.
Verb
steal (third-person singular simple present steals, present participle stealing, simple past stole, past participle stolen or (nonstandard, colloquial) stole)
- To 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.
- To appropriate without giving credit or acknowledgement.
- They stole my idea for a biodegradable, disposable garbage de-odorizer.
- To get or effect surreptitiously or artfully.
- He stole glances at the pretty woman across the street.
- Variety of objects has a tendency to steal away the mind too often from its steady pursuit of any subject.1741, I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […], →OCLC
- To 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!
- To draw attention unexpectedly in (an entertainment), especially by being the outstanding performer. Usually used in the phrase steal the show.
- To move silently or secretly; to pass unnoticed.
- He stole across the room, trying not to wake her.
- Dawn was stealing over the mountaintops.
- Synonyms:
- sneak
- To 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
- To withdraw or convey (oneself) clandestinely.
- They could insinuate and steal themselves under the same by their humble carriage and submission.1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […]...
- He will steal himself into a man's favour.c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- To advance safely to (another base) during the delivery of a pitch, without the aid of a hit, walk, passed ball, wild pitch, or defensive indifference.
- To dispossess.
- However, until Gardner stole the ball from Dean Whitehead in the centre circle with the half-hour approaching, setting off on a run which culminated with a testing long-range shot - with debutant Obafemi Martins lurking, Begovic gathered at the second time of asking - Stoke looked the more credible...2011 February 12, Les Roopanarine, “Birmingham 1-0 Stoke”, in BBC
- To borrow for a short moment.
- Can I steal your pen?
- To take or retell someone else’s joke; to use a clever phrase or expression from someone else in one's own speaking or writing.
Noun
steal (plural steals)
- The act of stealing.
- A piece of merchandise available at a very low, attractive price; the act of buying it.
- Near-synonyms: bargain, good value, value for money
- At this price, this car is a steal.
- Synonyms:
- bargain, good value, value for money
- Antonyms:
- rip-off
- A situation in which a defensive player actively takes possession of the ball or puck from the opponent's team.
- A stolen base.
- Scoring in an end without the hammer.
- A policy in database systems that a database follows which allows a transaction to be written on nonvolatile storage before its commit occurs.
steal meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
steal in Hindi
- to illegally take possession of
- चुराना curānā
steal in Tamil
- to illegally take possession of
- திருடு tiruṭu
steal in Marathi
- to illegally take possession of
- चोरणे corṇe, ढापणे ḍhāpṇe, चोरी करणे corī karṇe
steal in Urdu
- to illegally take possession of
- چرانا curānā
More languagesFewer languages
- steal in Bengali
- চুরি করা curi kora
- steal in Telugu
- దొంగిలించు doṅgiliñcu, కొట్టివేయు koṭṭivēyu, కొట్టేయు koṭṭēyu, దొంగతనం doṅgatanaṁ
- steal in Malayalam
- മോഷ്ടിക്കുക mōṣṭikkuka, കക്കുക kakkuka, ഭക്ഷിക്കുക bhakṣikkuka, പരുങ്ങുക paruṅṅuka
- steal in Kannada
- ಎಗರಿಸು, ಕದಿ, ಎತ್ತಿಹಾಕು, ತೆವರು
- steal in Punjabi
- ਖੋਹਣਾ khohṇā, لکنا lukṇā
- steal in Gujarati
- ચોરવું corvũ
- steal in Odia
- ଚୋରାଇବା corāibā
- steal in Sanskrit
- चोरयति corayati, स्तेनयति stenayati
- steal in Sinhala
- හොරකම් කරනවා horakam karanawā
- steal in Assamese
- চুৰ কৰ sur kor
- steal in Nepali
- चोर्नु cornu
- steal in Pashto
- تروړل troṛǝ́l
- steal in Tagalog
- magnakaw
- steal in Arabic
- سَرَقَ saraqa, اِسْتَرَقَ istaraqa
- steal in Malay
- curi
- steal in Indonesian
- mencuri
- steal in Persian
- دزدیدن dozdidan
- steal in Thai
- ขโมย kà-mooi, ลัก lák
- steal in Vietnamese
- trộm, chôm, ăn cắp
- steal in Myanmar
- ခိုး hkui:, ဗုန်း bun:
Examples of steal in a sentence
- He got that thing for just twenty bucks? What a steal!
- Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal.1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […]...
- Admitting to stealing the vegetables, Mohammed said, “Boss ah tief the thing, but not me alone.” The bhaigans were valued $100.2015 February 7, Azard Ali, “Mother put on a bond for stealing bhaigans”, in Trinidad and Tobago Newsday:
- Always, when thou changest thine opinion or course, profess it plainly,[…]and do not think to steal it.1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Great Place”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
- Not for long, of course, for already stealing upon one's hearing would be the staccato bark and thrust of the banker bringing up the rear.1953 December, Henry Maxwell, “The Folkestone Harbour Branch: Some Evocations”, in Railway Magazine, page 809:
Synonyms of steal
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of steal
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | steals |
| present participle | stealing |
| past | stole |
| past participle | stolen |
| past participle (nonstandard, colloquial) | stole |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | stealest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | stolest |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | stealeth |
| Noun | |
| plural | steals |
Origin of steal
Inherited from Middle English stelen, from Old English stelan, from Proto-West Germanic *stelan, from Proto-Germanic *stelaną. Cognate with Bavarian stöhn (“to steal”), Dutch stelen (“to steal”), German and Low German stehlen (“to steal”), Luxembourgish stielen (“to steal”), Danish stjæle (“to steal”), Faroese stjala (“to steal”), Icelandic stela (“to steal”), Norwegian Bokmål stjele (“to steal”), Norwegian Nynorsk stela, stele (“to steal”), Swedish stjäla (“to steal”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌽 (stilan, “to steal”). For the meaning development compare with Russian красть (krastʹ, “to steal”) and Russian кра́сться (krástʹsja, “to stalk, to prowl, to slink”). etymology notes Proposed etymologies beyond Germanic are numerous and include * Proto-Indo-European *ster-: compare Welsh herw (“theft, raid”), Ancient Greek στερέω (steréō, “to deprive of”) * Proto-Indo-European *stel(H)- (“to stretch”): compare Albanian pë/mbështjell (“to confuse, mess up, mix, wrap up”), Old Church Slavonic стєлѭ (steljǫ, “I spread out (bed, roof)”), Ancient Greek τηλία (tēlía, “playing table”) * Proto-Indo-European *tsel- (“to sneak”): compare Sanskrit त्सरति (tsárati, “creep, sneak up on”) and other forms under...
Words formed from steal
- besteal
- close the stable door after the horse has been stolen
- don't teach your grandmother to steal sheep
- double steal
- forsteal
- instealing
- kill steal
- lifesteal
- lock the stable door after the horse has been stolen
- outsteal
- resteal
- scene-stealing
- scene stealing
- shop steal
- stealable
- stealage
- steal a glance
- steal a kiss
- steal a living
- steal a march
- stealection
- stealer
- stealership
- steal in
- steal someone's heart
- steal someone's identity
- steal someone's soul
- steal someone's thunder
- stealth
- steal the bacon
- steal the scene
- steal the show
- steal up
- subclavian steal syndrome
- unsteal
- upsteal
- coronary steal
Phrases with steal
Words that rhyme with steal
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- anneal
- creel
- peal
- peel
- sweal
- congeal
- Izmail
- kneel
- meal
- Neale
- streal
- weal
- awheel
- Castile
- cochineal
- feal
- heal
- Lille
- ordeal
- repeal
- sele
- squeal
- teal
- zeal
- ceil
- debile
- dishabille
- hele
- leal
- lifesteal
- Neil
- Niel
- O'Neill
- reveal
- schlemiel
- seel
- she'll
- shiel
- skeel
- spiel
- square meal
- unseal
- veal
- we'll
- weel
- ye'll
- -meal
- allele
Questions about steal
- 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.
- What is steal in Hindi?
- Steal in Hindi is चुराना (curānā). See Steal meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use steal in a sentence?
- He got that thing for just twenty bucks? What a steal!
- What part of speech is steal?
- Steal can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce steal?
- Steal is pronounced /stiːl/.
- What is the past tense of steal?
- The past tense of steal is stole.
Words near steal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: steal (page history and authors); കക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); steal (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); لکنا (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ચોરવું (Gujarati) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-steel.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-steal.wav.
Cite this entry: “steal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/steal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.