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
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
The waterproof nylon exterior includes slash-resistant lining and straps, locking clasps to secure valuables, and RFID-blocking technology to help ward off pickpockets.
—Kayla Kitts, Travel + Leisure, 27 Feb. 2026
Rafiq suspected that the anxiety suffusing the market had made any pickpockets unlikely to be scoping out potential shoppers.
—Literary Hub, 8 Jan. 2026
Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 27 Feb. 2026
The waterproof nylon exterior includes slash-resistant lining and straps, locking clasps to secure valuables, and RFID-blocking technology to help ward off pickpockets.
—Kayla Kitts, Travel + Leisure, 27 Feb. 2026
Rafiq suspected that the anxiety suffusing the market had made any pickpockets unlikely to be scoping out potential shoppers.
—Literary Hub, 8 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pickpockets
Noun
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Police said the surveillance footage shows the thieves making off with the paintings across the lush gardens of the villa, with the museum’s alarm system sounding in the background.—
Barbie Latza Nadeau,
CNN Money,
30 Mar. 2026
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The crime in Parma comes after a series of high-profile heists at major European museums, including a major incident in October in which thieves stole jewels and other items worth $101 million from the Louvre in Paris.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
30 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The two robbers and a passerby were also killed in a hail of gunfire at an intersection in Miramar, Florida.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
23 Mar. 2026
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In the Winnetka home invasion, Police said the five robbers invaded a home after one of them posed as a food delivery driver carrying a brown takeout bag from Outback Steakhouse to get in.—
Jeramie Bizzle,
CBS News,
21 Mar. 2026
Noun
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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
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Good afternoon and welcome to Con Con, the convention for swindlers, mountebanks, and the people who love them.—
Henry Alford,
New Yorker,
1 Dec. 2025
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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Those who refused to disperse, including vandals, were arrested following warnings.—
Emily Hallas,
The Washington Examiner,
30 Mar. 2026
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Windows on vacant buildings were scratched by vandals.—
Steve Lopez,
Los Angeles Times,
28 Mar. 2026
Noun
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They get captured by Hungarian gangsters and have to fight (and kill) their way out of an inn run by a shady former dance prodigy (Uma Thurman).—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
31 Mar. 2026
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Prosecutors used details from the home takeover to argue for a lengthy prison term, describing how Serrano and other gangsters took advantage of an 84-year-old woman who had dementia.—
Nate Gartrell,
Mercury News,
26 Mar. 2026
Noun
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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
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Aleah and Grasso end up saving Lizzie’s ass and capturing the hoodlums.—
Grace Byron,
Vulture,
22 Sep. 2025
Noun
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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
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Ciri, unbeknowest to her surrogate ma and pa, is free of her Nilfgaardian captors and on the run with a band of adolescent ruffians, and perhaps figuring out how to take care of herself.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
30 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pickpockets.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pickpockets. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026.
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