Meanings
present singular third person steals · participle present stealing · past stole · participle past stolen · colloquial nonstandard participle past stole · first person past singular stole · archaic present second person singular stealest · past second person singular stole · archaic past second person singular stolest · present singular third person steals · archaic present singular third person stealeth · past singular third person stole · past plural stole · past subjunctive stole · participle present stealing · participle past stolen
- transitiveTo take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else without intending to return it.
They stole all my money (from me).
5 more examples
Three irreplaceable paintings were stolen from the gallery.
The problem is the two bicycles stolen from us.
At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe thought, all gone to ſleep, ſhe ſtole out of her bed, and went down ſtairs, naked to her ſhift as ſhe was, with a deſign to ſteal them[…].
1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools, volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, →OCLC, page 202"I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal. I never did that. I always made up my mind I'd be a big man some day, and—I'm glad I didn't steal."
1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLCLaura snatches coins from inside a truck to make a telephone call, scrounges shoes and clothes for them at a municipal beach, schemes to get a room key so she and Howie can sleep overnight in the Starlight Motel, steals a Jeepster from a deputy sheriff who's trying to arrest them.
1987 November 8, Ron Hansen, “CHILDREN'S BOOKS; DISCOVERING THE OPPOSITE SEX”, in The New York Times - transitiveusuallywords; a look; credit; words; a look; creditentertainmentTo appropriate without giving credit or acknowledgement.
They stole my idea for a biodegradable, disposable garbage de-odorizer.
- transitiveTo get or effect surreptitiously or artfully.
He stole glances at the pretty woman across the street.
2 more examples
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, […], →OCLCAlways, 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 - figurativelyinformaltransitiveTo acquire at a low price.
He stole the car for two thousand less than its book value.
1 more example
He got that car for two grand under book? Wow, he stole that thing!
- transitiveTo draw attention unexpectedly in (an entertainment), especially by being the outstanding performer. Usually used in the phrase steal the show.
- intransitiveTo move silently or secretly; to pass unnoticed.
Dawn was stealing over the mountaintops.
5 more examples
He stole across the room, trying not to wake her.
At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe thought, all gone to ſleep, ſhe ſtole out of her bed, and went down ſtairs, naked to her ſhift as ſhe was, with a deſign to ſteal them[…].
1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools, volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, →OCLC, page 202"Did he take his bottle well?" Mrs. Flanders whispered, and Rebecca nodded and went to the cot and turned down the quilt, and Mrs. Flanders bent over and looked anxiously at the baby, asleep, but frowning. 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; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLCA kind of tense peace, like the centre of a cyclone, descended. 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 809When night had fallen, the she-demon stole forth toward the hall, which she entered unheard and unseen.
1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 33Synonyms: sneak
- transitiveTo 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.
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] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi]1 more example
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 […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC - transitiveball gamesTo 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.
- transitivehobbiesTo dispossess.
1 more example
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 contenders to break the deadlock.
2011 February 12, Les Roopanarine, “Birmingham 1-0 Stoke”, in BBC - humorousinformaltransitiveTo take or retell someone else’s joke; to use a clever phrase or expression from someone else in one's own speaking or writing.
plural steals
- The act of stealing.
- figurativelyslangA piece of merchandise available at a very low, attractive price; the act of buying it.
At this price, this car is a steal.
2 more examples
Near-synonyms: bargain, good value, value for money
He got that thing for just twenty bucks? What a steal!
Synonyms: bargain, good value, value for money · Antonyms: rip-off
- ball gamesA situation in which a defensive player actively takes possession of the ball or puck from the opponent's team.
- ball gamesA stolen base.
- computingA policy in database systems that a database follows which allows a transaction to be written on nonvolatile storage before its commit occurs.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo move silently or secretly; to pass unnoticed.
nounA piece of merchandise available at a very low, attractive price; the act of buying it.
acquire licitly
provide freely
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*stelaną
- Proto-West Germanic*stelan
- Old Englishstelan
- Middle Englishstelen
- Englishsteal
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 Pokorny 5. *sel- "schleichen, kriechen"
More words from Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans steel
- steelto illegally take possession of
Ancient Greek κλέπτω
- κλέπτω (kléptō)to illegally take possession of
Arabic سَرَقَ, اِسْتَرَقَ
- سَرَقَ (saraqa)to illegally take possession of
- اِسْتَرَقَ (istaraqa)to move silently
Basque lapurtu, ebatsi
- lapurtuto illegally take possession of
- ebatsito illegally take possession of
Bengali চুরি করা
- চুরি করা (curi kora)to illegally take possession of
Bulgarian крада́, открадвам
- крада́ (kradá)to illegally take possession of
- открадвам (otkradvam)to get or effect surreptitiously or artfully
- прокрадвам се (prokradvam se)to move silently
- промоция (promocija)merchandise available at a very attractive price
- кражба (kražba)merchandise available at a very attractive price
Catalan robar, escapolir-se
- robarto illegally take possession of
- escapolir-seto move silently
- robatoria stolen base
Chinese Cantonese 偷, 盜 /盗
- 偷 (tau¹)to illegally take possession of
- 盜 /盗 (dou⁶)to illegally take possession of
- 偷嘢 (tau¹ je⁵)to illegally take possession of
- 盜竊 /盗窃 (dou⁶ sit³)to illegally take possession of
Chinese Mandarin 偷, 盜 /盗
- 偷 (tōu)to illegally take possession of
- 盜 /盗 (dào)to illegally take possession of
- 盜竊 /盗窃 (dàoqiè)to illegally take possession of
- 偷垒baseball: to advance safely during the pitch
- 盜竊 /盗窃 (dàoqiè)the act of stealing
Czech krást, ukrást
- krástto illegally take possession of
- ukrástto illegally take possession of
Danish stjæle
- stjæleto illegally take possession of
Dutch stelen, ontvreemden
- stelento illegally take possession of
- ontvreemdento illegally take possession of
- jattento illegally take possession of
- gappento illegally take possession of
- stelento draw attention
- diefstalthe act of stealing
- roofthe act of stealing
- koopjemerchandise available at a very attractive price
Esperanto ŝteli, alŝteliĝi
- ŝtelito illegally take possession of
- alŝteliĝito move silently
Estonian varastama, vargus
- varastamato illegally take possession of
- vargusthe act of stealing
- varastaminethe act of stealing
Finnish varastaa, ryövätä
- varastaato illegally take possession of
- ryövätäto illegally take possession of
- varkainto get or effect surreptitiously or artfully
- vaivihkaato get or effect surreptitiously or artfully
- viedä huomioto draw attention
- varastaato draw attention
- hiipiäto move silently
- kärkkyäbaseball: to advance safely during the pitch
- varastaminenthe act of stealing
- varkausthe act of stealing
- löytömerchandise available at a very attractive price
French voler, vol
- volerto illegally take possession of
- volthe act of stealing
- bonne affairemerchandise available at a very attractive price
German stehlen, entwenden
- stehlento illegally take possession of
- entwendento illegally take possession of
- klauento illegally take possession of
- mopsento illegally take possession of
- stehlento get or effect surreptitiously or artfully
- stehlento draw attention
- raubento draw attention
- sich stehlento move silently
- schleichento move silently
- Diebstahlthe act of stealing
- Raubthe act of stealing
- Schnäppchenmerchandise available at a very attractive price
Greek κλέβω
- κλέβω (klévo)to illegally take possession of
Hebrew גָּנַב, גָּזַל
- גָּנַב (ganáv)to illegally take possession of
- גָּזַל (gazál)to illegally take possession of
- התגנב (hitganév)to move silently
- גניבהthe act of stealing
- מציאהmerchandise available at a very attractive price
Hindi चुराना
- चुराना (curānā)to illegally take possession of
Hungarian lop, lopva
- lopto illegally take possession of
- lopvato get or effect surreptitiously or artfully
- lopódzikto move silently
- osonto move silently
- settenkedikto move silently
Icelandic stela, hnupla
- stelato illegally take possession of
- hnuplato illegally take possession of
Indonesian mencuri
- mencurito illegally take possession of
Irish goid
- goidto illegally take possession of
Italian rubare, derubare
- rubareto illegally take possession of
- derubareto illegally take possession of
- fregareto illegally take possession of
- accattivarsito get or effect surreptitiously or artfully
- appropriarsito get or effect surreptitiously or artfully
- rubareto draw attention
- attirareto draw attention
- focalizzareto draw attention
- distogliereto draw attention
- distrarreto draw attention
- aggirarsito move silently
- furtothe act of stealing
- ruberiathe act of stealing
- combinazionemerchandise available at a very attractive price
- refurtivaa stolen base
Japanese 盗む, 忍び足をする
- 盗む (nusumu)to illegally take possession of
- 忍び足をする (shinobiashi o suru)to move silently
- 盗塁する (tōrui suru)baseball: to advance safely during the pitch
- 盗み (nusumi)the act of stealing
- 掘り出し物 (horidashimono)merchandise available at a very attractive price
- 盗塁 (tōrui)a stolen base
Korean 훔치다
- 훔치다 (humchida)to illegally take possession of
Latin clepō, fūror
- clepōto illegally take possession of
- fūrorto illegally take possession of
Latvian zagt
- zagtto illegally take possession of
Lithuanian vogti
- vogtito illegally take possession of
Malay curi
- curito illegally take possession of
Māori tāhae, kaiā
- tāhaeto illegally take possession of
- kaiāto illegally take possession of
- keiāto illegally take possession of
- whānakoto illegally take possession of
- whēnakoto illegally take possession of
- whakamohoto move silently
- nihinihito move silently
- whakaninihito move silently
- whakamoketo move silently
- whakamōkihito move silently
Norwegian stjele, stjele
- stjeleto get or effect surreptitiously or artfully
- stjeleto draw attention
- liste segto move silently
- kuppmerchandise available at a very attractive price
Norwegian Bokmål stjele, tyverikjøp
- stjeleto illegally take possession of
- tyverikjøpmerchandise available at a very attractive price
Persian دزدیدن
- دزدیدن (dozdidan)to illegally take possession of
Polish kraść, ukraść
- kraśćto illegally take possession of
- ukraśćto illegally take possession of
- gwizdnąćto illegally take possession of
- zgarnąćto illegally take possession of
- buchnąćto illegally take possession of
- przywłaszczyć sobieto illegally take possession of
- zwędzićto illegally take possession of
- zakosićto illegally take possession of
- zwinąćto illegally take possession of
- podiwanićto illegally take possession of
- capnąćto illegally take possession of
- chapnąćto illegally take possession of
- kradzieżthe act of stealing
Portuguese roubar, furtar
- roubarto illegally take possession of
- furtarto illegally take possession of
- surrupiarto get or effect surreptitiously or artfully
- surripiarto get or effect surreptitiously or artfully
- roubarto draw attention
- roubothe act of stealing
- furtothe act of stealing
Romanian fura, însuși
- furato illegally take possession of
- însușito get or effect surreptitiously or artfully
- furato get or effect surreptitiously or artfully
- eclipsato draw attention
- strecurato move silently
- furișato move silently
- furtthe act of stealing
- furatthe act of stealing
- furăturăthe act of stealing
- chilipirmerchandise available at a very attractive price
Russian красть, укра́сть
- красть (krastʹ)to illegally take possession of
- укра́сть (ukrástʹ)to illegally take possession of
- ворова́ть (vorovátʹ)to illegally take possession of
- сворова́ть (svorovátʹ)to illegally take possession of
- стащи́ть (staščítʹ)to illegally take possession of
- сви́стнуть (svístnutʹ)to illegally take possession of
- сты́рить (stýritʹ)to illegally take possession of
- спи́здить (spízditʹ)to illegally take possession of
- кра́жа (kráža)the act of stealing
Scottish Gaelic goid, goid
- goidto illegally take possession of
- goidto get or effect surreptitiously or artfully
- goidthe act of stealing
Slovak kradnúť, ukradnúť
- kradnúťto illegally take possession of
- ukradnúťto illegally take possession of
Spanish robar, shacar
- robarto illegally take possession of
- shacarto illegally take possession of
- facharto illegally take possession of
- percollarto illegally take possession of
- afanarto illegally take possession of
- mangarto illegally take possession of
- hurtarto illegally take possession of
- robothe act of stealing
- a precio de saldomerchandise available at a very attractive price
Swedish baxa, beta
- baxato illegally take possession of
- betato illegally take possession of
- stjälato illegally take possession of
- snoto illegally take possession of
- knyckato illegally take possession of
- smygato move silently
- stöldthe act of stealing
Tagalog magnakaw
- magnakawto illegally take possession of
Tamil திருடு
- திருடு (tiruṭu)to illegally take possession of
Thai ขโมย, ลัก
- ขโมย (kà-mooi)to illegally take possession of
- ลัก (lák)to illegally take possession of
Turkish çalmak, kelepir
- çalmakto illegally take possession of
- kelepirmerchandise available at a very attractive price
- malakamerchandise available at a very attractive price
- okazyonmerchandise available at a very attractive price
Ukrainian кра́сти, укра́сти
- кра́сти (krásty)to illegally take possession of
- укра́сти (ukrásty)to illegally take possession of
- сви́снути (svýsnuty)to illegally take possession of
- поцу́пити (pocúpyty)to illegally take possession of
- спи́здити (spýzdyty)to illegally take possession of
Urdu چرانا
- چرانا (curānā)to illegally take possession of
Vietnamese trộm, chôm
- trộmto illegally take possession of
- chômto illegally take possession of
- ăn cắpto illegally take possession of
Welsh dwyn
- dwynto illegally take possession of
Yiddish גנבֿענען, אַוועקגנבֿענען
- גנבֿענען (ganvenen)to illegally take possession of
- אַוועקגנבֿענען (avekganvenen)to illegally take possession of
- גנבֿענען (ganvenen)to move silently
- מציאה פֿון אַ גנבֿ (metsiye fun a ganef)merchandise available at a very attractive price
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with steal
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
steal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/steal
“steal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/steal. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “steal,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/steal.
Source: steal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.