Robbery

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈɹɒbəɹi/

Definitions

1. The act of taking property from a person by force, threat, or intimidation
2. The unlawful act of seizing someone else's belongings through violence, coercion, or threats of harm occurs during a crime known for its direct confrontation with the victim
3. This crime involves forcibly appropriating another individual's possessions, often through intimidation or aggressive behavior, without their consent

Etymology: The most striking thing about "robbery" is that English once had a perfectly good native word for it and lost the contest. Old English used "rēaflāc," built from "rēaf" (spoil, plunder) and "lāc" (sport, play, a kind of action), and it was pushed aside when Middle English borrowed the French "robberie." That French word came from "rober," meaning "to steal or pillage," and the verb reaches back to an unrecorded Frankish "*raubōn," a relative of the Germanic root behind modern English "reave." The English word therefore arrived through Old French, which had itself absorbed a Germanic term from the Franks, the Germanic people who gave their name to France. Its ancestry is visible in relatives across the continent: Dutch "roverij," Norwegian Bokmål "røveri," and German "Räuberei" all carry the same idea of plunder and banditry. Speakers in English could easily see the parts, since "rob" and the suffix "-ery" look like a simple pairing. The word's sense has stayed close to its origin, always meaning the taking of property by force.

Synonyms: theft, burglary, heist, stealing, larceny

Antonyms: return, restitution, giving, donation, contribution