as in thieves
a person who steals money and other things from people's pockets and purses
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Recent Examples of pickpockets
Bags with open-top designs are an easy target for pickpockets.
—
Amelia McBride, Travel + Leisure, 13 May 2026
And when the 25,000 Social Security checks worth $8 million are delivered each month, police say 80 pickpockets arrive to prey on the elderly.
—Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 27 Feb. 2026
Amelia McBride, Travel + Leisure, 13 May 2026
And when the 25,000 Social Security checks worth $8 million are delivered each month, police say 80 pickpockets arrive to prey on the elderly.
—Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 27 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pickpockets
Noun
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In this burglary in the 1900 block of West Cermak Road, thieves crashed a sport-utility vehicle into a business, went in, stole the ATM, and fled east, police said.—
Adam Harrington,
CBS News,
18 May 2026
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How thieves take over retirement accounts Account takeovers begin with information someone already has.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
17 May 2026
Noun
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Just as robbers who steal physical items usually want to unload them as quickly as possible, Redbord says cyberthieves know their time is limited.—
Andy Rose,
CNN Money,
14 May 2026
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In at least one instance, the driver was able to fight off a gunman and force the would-be robbers to abandon their plan, prosecutors said.—
Caleb Lunetta,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
8 May 2026
Noun
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The decade ended tumultuously, with the Osmond family’s fortune drained by a series of swindlers and grifters.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
21 Apr. 2026
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This scam, according to Kent, could be proliferated with the use of AI, which can allow swindlers to enroll in many different college programs at once.—
Peter D'Abrosca,
FOXNews.com,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The characters were based on a real family of bookmakers and racketeers who once lived in England.—
Sarah Moore,
Freep.com,
5 Mar. 2026
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When Ferrara was starting out, private investment in low-budget films was spurred by tax loopholes, a way for doctors, dentists, and racketeers to get rid of extra cash that would otherwise wind up in Uncle Sam’s grubby mitts.—
Nick Pinkerton,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The top of the column was broken off by vandals several years ago.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
15 May 2026
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His street art is often targeted by thieves and vandals.—
Reuters,
NBC news,
1 May 2026
Noun
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In Gray’s taut thriller, set in 1980s Brighton Beach; the Gowanus area of Brooklyn; and Great Neck, Long Island, two brothers (Driver and Teller) fall afoul of Russian gangsters in a rapidly transforming city where high-stakes opportunities for riches also come with a high risk of life and limb.—
Jada Yuan,
HollywoodReporter,
17 May 2026
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The only ones making money on alcohol now were gangsters.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
12 May 2026
Noun
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In the past decade, the leadership of the Kinahan organization has become rich and cosmopolitan, and their life styles have started to resemble those of international businessmen more than of street hoodlums.—
Ed Caesar,
New Yorker,
30 Apr. 2026
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The first pictures McCullin took were of hoodlums and down-and-outs, subjects that reflected his own hardscrabble background.—
Andrew Pulver,
Air Mail,
31 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The series has lent a cinematic gangster attraction to the Peaky Blinders, yet the term itself was not one gang — as depicted in the show — but a generic expression from the late 19th century for the ‘street ruffians’ of Birmingham, born out of the city’s ring of poverty.—
Jacob Tanswell,
New York Times,
4 Apr. 2026
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In fact, the GTW ruffians have to give the Big Honey some props for his relative restraint in the heat of the moment.—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
28 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pickpockets.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pickpockets. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
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