STEALING

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does stealing mean? 

• STEALING (noun)
  The noun STEALING has 2 senses:

1. the act of taking something from someone unlawfully

2. avoiding detection by moving carefully

  Familiarity information: STEALING used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STEALING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of taking something from someone unlawfully

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

larceny; stealing; theft; thievery; thieving

Context example:

the thieving is awful at Kennedy International

Hypernyms ("stealing" is a kind of...):

felony (a serious crime (such as murder or arson))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "stealing"):

breach of trust with fraudulent intent (larceny after trust rather than after unlawful taking)

defalcation; embezzlement; misapplication; misappropriation; peculation (the fraudulent appropriation of funds or property entrusted to your care but actually owned by someone else)

pilferage (the act of stealing small amounts or small articles)

shoplifting; shrinkage (the act of stealing goods that are on display in a store)

robbery (larceny by threat of violence)

biopiracy (biological theft; illegal collection of indigenous plants by corporations who patent them for their own use)

grand larceny; grand theft (larceny of property having a value greater than some amount (the amount varies by locale))

petit larceny; petty; petty larceny (larceny of property having a value less than some amount (the amount varies by locale))

skimming (failure to declare income in order to avoid paying taxes on it)

rustling (the stealing of cattle)

Derivation:

steal (take without the owner's consent)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Avoiding detection by moving carefully

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

stealing; stealth

Hypernyms ("stealing" is a kind of...):

concealing; concealment; hiding (the activity of keeping something secret)

Derivation:

steal (move stealthily)

 Context examples 

Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) Does the patient believe that others are stealing from him/her?

(NPI - Others are Stealing From Him/Her, NCI Thesaurus)

Jock Horner and Smoke alone were unabashed, stealing stealthy glances at her now and again, and even taking part in the conversation.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I saw the mist stealing in, and I grabbed it tight.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I was standing alone before the fire, when Dora came stealing softly in, to give me that usual precious little kiss before I went.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It turns me cold to think of this creature stealing like a thief to Harry’s bedside; poor Harry, what a wakening!

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

At once he became a thing of the wild, stealing along softly, cat-footed, a passing shadow that appeared and disappeared among the shadows.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

He spoke and looked so much in earnest, that Anne was not surprised to see Mrs Clay stealing a glance at Elizabeth and herself.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

A kind of pleasant stupor was stealing over me as I sat by the genial fire.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

After him there came a second man, and after him a third, a fourth, and a fifth stealing across the narrow open space and darting into the shelter of the brushwood.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Kidnapping a German subject. And stealing his private papers.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)