Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act or practice of thieving.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act or practice of stealing; theft.
  • noun That which is stolen.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The practice of stealing; theft; thievishness.
  • noun obsolete That which is stolen.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act of theft, the act of stealing.
  • noun obsolete That which is stolen.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the act of taking something from someone unlawfully

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From thieve +‎ -ery

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Examples

  • Every writer assumes that this thievery is justified, just as every tax department steals for the public good.

    Genius in a Bottle Hal Duncan 2009

  • But wheel-thievery is almost big business; Most of the Mexico City thievery comes under the headings of light fingers and anything movable.

    The Lightest-Fingered Crooks in the World « Official Harry Harrison News Blog 2007

  • Much of the thievery is being carried out by beach vendors who wait for beach goers to go swimming.

    Top places along coast to live? 2006

  • The positive (up) side of warning tourists about thievery is to cut down on the action.

    Exploring Mexico's Markets 2005

  • Among the highlights of Halliburton's thievery from the NYT:

    03/14/2005 2005

  • The commenter was anonymous and posted the idea openly, so the name thievery should not be a problem for Estrin.

    Lowering the Bar 2008

  • Republicans stole the election, and your ‘pandering’ to their thievery is just more ‘wishcraft’ of republicans who want to believe they’re popular in the face of all evidence to the contrary.

    Think Progress » Bush Blames Media For Ignoring “Progress,” Matthews “Impressed” 2005

  • What's even more ironic is that chances are the victim of this thievery is an elderly conservative who stays home, watches FOX News, listens to Rush, and rails against the "lib'ruls" who want to regulate free enterprise to death, as opposed to those elderly liberals who have a hearty distrust of big corporations.

    Screwing the Seniors 2007

  • On the other hand, they are facing outright thievery, which is going through the roof, increasing along with gas prices.

    CNN Transcript Jun 22, 2005 2005

  • Tim Groninger makes a classic error when he writes, “word thievery … has become especially acute,” suggesting that the problem has reached pandemic proportions.

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004

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