as in pilferage
Related Words
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as in stealing
to take (something) without right and with an intent to keep
what sort of person would pilfer lunches from the office refrigerator?
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of pilfering
Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 26 Dec. 2025
Earlier this week the company filed a lawsuit against a group of data-scraping companies for allegedly pilfering its content and selling it to Perplexity.
—Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 24 Oct. 2025
And not the two sets of federal indictments against him for pilfering classified documents and then refusing to return them and for defrauding the United States.
—Jeff Robbins, Oc Register, 20 Oct. 2025
Seven people are locked up for running a theft ring that included pilfering more than $800,000 in smoke detectors from Home Depot stores across Florida — including Miami-Dade, according to Attorney General James Uthmeier.
—Milena Malaver, Miami Herald, 2 Oct. 2025
This, above, was the first of Naeher’s career on her 200th NWSL outing, pilfering a 3-3 draw (from three down, on the road) against Seattle Reign.
—Phil Hay, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2025
Verb
Season 5, meanwhile, has noticeably flattened its ensemble, leaning on simplistic personality traits and pilfering from previous arcs.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 26 Dec. 2025
Earlier this week the company filed a lawsuit against a group of data-scraping companies for allegedly pilfering its content and selling it to Perplexity.
—Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 24 Oct. 2025
And not the two sets of federal indictments against him for pilfering classified documents and then refusing to return them and for defrauding the United States.
—Jeff Robbins, Oc Register, 20 Oct. 2025
Seven people are locked up for running a theft ring that included pilfering more than $800,000 in smoke detectors from Home Depot stores across Florida — including Miami-Dade, according to Attorney General James Uthmeier.
—Milena Malaver, Miami Herald, 2 Oct. 2025
This, above, was the first of Naeher’s career on her 200th NWSL outing, pilfering a 3-3 draw (from three down, on the road) against Seattle Reign.
—Phil Hay, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pilfering
Verb
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The mood shifted around midnight, when a guest lost her phone and began accusing others of stealing it, authorities said.—
Nate Gartrell,
Mercury News,
10 Feb. 2026
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Two more people were arrested after allegedly stealing about $1 million in gold jewelry in the January smash-and-grab robbery of a Yuba City jewelry store, police said.—
Darrell Smith,
Sacbee.com,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Stores increasingly use it to track customers suspected of shoplifting, entertainment venues deploy it during big events, and many cellphones give users the option to unlock their devices with an instantaneous face scan.—
Matt Lavietes,
NBC news,
6 Feb. 2026
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But Newsom was also an enthusiastic backer of Proposition 47, passed in 2014, which reclassified shoplifting offenses under $950 from felonies to misdemeanors, and also reduced charges for lower-level drug possession.—
Bret Stephens,
Mercury News,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
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The smear sites have alleged, without substantiation, that targets engaged in — among other activities — extortion, embezzlement, prostitution, drug dealing and human trafficking.—
Gary Baum,
HollywoodReporter,
11 Feb. 2026
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The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office announced that Burrell High School boys' basketball coach Michael Fantuzzo was arrested and charged with multiple felonies in connection with alleged embezzlement of nearly $250,000 from the Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association.—
Mike Darnay,
CBS News,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
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And one of those things is what the suspect in the kidnapping looks like.—
Lizzie Lanuza,
StyleCaster,
13 Feb. 2026
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More than a week after Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy Guthrie, went missing from her Arizona home in a possible kidnapping, law enforcement brought a man in for questioning before releasing him.—
KiMi Robinson,
USA Today,
12 Feb. 2026
Noun
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The hijacking sparked a dramatic police chase that ended in a rush-hour shootout when the truck became stuck in traffic on the busy parkway.—
Joan Murray,
CBS News,
2 Feb. 2026
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The plot loosely draws from and includes actual footage from real-life events including the 1999 IC-814 hijacking, the 2001 Parliament attack, and the 2008 Mumbai attacks.—
Hannah Abraham,
Forbes.com,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
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It was revealed during that trial that Low's plundering of the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund exceeded $4 billion.—
Ryan Coleman,
Entertainment Weekly,
20 Nov. 2025
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Aron Solomon on how the Meta AI copyright decision made libraries sitting ducks for AI plundering.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 June 2025
Noun
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Alcorn calls it intentional copyright infringement and brand misappropriation.—
Andrea Guzmán,
Austin American Statesman,
7 Feb. 2026
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Here, the relevant evidence is from as far back as 49 years ago and alleged trademark misappropriation started in 1989, when the gold jacket was used for the 1989 Hall of Fame induction.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
28 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pilfering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pilfering. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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