larceny
/ˈlɑːs(ə)ni
/noun (plural larcenies) [mass noun]
Theft of personal property. In English law larceny was replaced as a statutory crime by theft in 1968. See also grand larceny, petty larceny.A concurrent effect to this drop in violent crime occurs in the form of an increase in some levels of property crimes, including larceny and auto theft....
- The most prevalent property crimes are larceny, theft, burglary, and robbery.
- Even the media have stopped reporting incidents of robbery, rape, larceny, car theft and other ‘minor’ crimes.
Synonyms
theft, stealing, robbery, pilfering, thieving, thievery, purloining;
burglary, housebreaking, breaking and entering;
appropriation, expropriation, misappropriation
informal lifting, filching, swiping
British informal nicking, pinching, half-inching, blagging
rare peculation
Derivatives
larcener
/ noun (archaic)larcenist
- It's bad enough that lesbians are being tagged as sperm larcenists, but the writers rework an old stereotype, too.
- The special argot bespoke a fraternity with shared affinities extending beyond child larcenists.
- And it was a substitute, a veritable steal, and a serial larcenist who assured them of it.
larcenous
/ adjective ...- And since they are the intelligent ones, they are able to cause trouble for the more larcenous politicians.
- The second highest compliment she received was larcenous in nature: the (generally unauthorized) gesture of forwarding her emails to other people…
- Indeed the upper echelons, who to the unenlightened merely appear as parasitic larcenous thugs, will have a tad more than the $5 being shoveled at those welfare recipients that curtsy correctly.
Origin
Late 15th century: from Old French larcin, from Latin latrocinium, from latro(n-) 'robber', earlier 'mercenary soldier', from Greek latreus.