theft
/θɛft/
theft noun: the act of stealing property.
Noun
theft (countable and uncountable, plural thefts)
- The act of stealing property.
- resource theft
- Bike theft is on the rise.
theft meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
theft in Hindi
- act of stealing property
- चोरी corī
theft in Tamil
- act of stealing property
- திருட்டு tiruṭṭu, களவு kaḷavu
theft in Marathi
- act of stealing property
- चोरी corī
theft in Urdu
- act of stealing property
- چوری corī, سَرْقَت sarqat, دُزْدی duzdī, سَرْقَہ sarqa
More languagesFewer languages
- theft in Bengali
- চুরি curi
- theft in Telugu
- దొంగతనము doṅgatanamu
- theft in Malayalam
- കളവ് kaḷavŭ, മോഷണം mōṣaṇaṁ
- theft in Kannada
- ಕಳ್ಳತನ kaḷḷatana
- theft in Punjabi
- ਚੋਰੀ
- theft in Gujarati
- ચોરી corī
- theft in Odia
- ଚୋରି cori
- theft in Sanskrit
- स्तेय stéya
- theft in Nepali
- चोरी
- theft in Pashto
- سرقت šerqat, سرقه serqa, غلا ǧlā
- theft in Tagalog
- pagnanakaw
- theft in Arabic
- سَرِقَة sariqa, سَرَقَة saraqa, سَرْق sarq, سَرَق saraq
- theft in Malay
- pencurian
- theft in Indonesian
- pencurian
- theft in Thai
- โจรกรรม joo-rá-gam, การลักทรัพย์ gaan-lák-sáp, การลัก gaan-lák
- theft in Vietnamese
- sự trộm cắp, sự ăn trộm
- theft in Myanmar
- ခိုးမှု hkui:hmu.
Examples of theft in a sentence
- A suspect was arrested for the theft of a gold necklace.
- If you steal a candy bar, you are guilty of theft, regardless of the value.2007 July 5, Charles Hugh Smith, When Lies Become Normal, Is Truth Dead or Just in Hiding?, archived from the original on 12 Feb 2025:
Synonyms of theft
4 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- five-finger discount
- midnight requisition
- moonlight requisition
- manifest destiny
Forms of theft
| plural | thefts |
|---|
Origin of theft
From Middle English theft, thefte, þefte, þefþe, þiefþe, Old English þīefþ, from Proto-West Germanic *þiubīþu, from Proto-Germanic *þiubīþō (“theft”), from *þiubijaną (“to thieve, steal”), equivalent to thieve + -t (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with West Frisian tsjeafte (“theft”), dialectal Dutch diefte (“theft”), obsolete German Diebde (“theft”), Icelandic þýfð (“theft”).
Words formed from theft
Words that rhyme with theft
Questions about theft
- What does theft mean?
- Theft means the act of stealing property.
- What is theft in Hindi?
- Theft in Hindi is चोरी (corī). See Theft meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use theft in a sentence?
- A suspect was arrested for the theft of a gold necklace.
- What part of speech is theft?
- Theft is a noun.
- How do you pronounce theft?
- Theft is pronounced /θɛft/ (UK).
- What is the plural of theft?
- The plural of theft is thefts.
Words near theft in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: theft (page history and authors); ಕಳ್ಳತನ (Kannada) (page history and authors); theft (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ચોરી (Gujarati) (page history and authors); स्तेय (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); theft (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-theft.wav.
Cite this entry: “theft.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/theft. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.