- a person who steals something from another person or place
- a car/jewel thief
- a gang of thieves
- Thieves stole £70 000 worth of jewellery from his home.
- a petty thief (= who steals items of quite low value)
- It is the fourth time the shop has been targeted by thieves.
Collocations CrimeCrimeCommitting a crimesee also theft- commit a crime/a murder/a violent assault/a brutal killing/an armed robbery/fraud
- be involved in terrorism/a suspected arson attack/human trafficking
- engage/participate in criminal activity/illegal practices/acts of mindless vandalism
- steal somebody’s wallet/purse/(British English) mobile phone/(North American English) cell phone
- rob a bank/a person/a tourist
- break into/ (British English) burgle/ (North American English) burglarize a house/a home/an apartment
- hijack a plane/ship/bus
- smuggle drugs/weapons/arms
- traffic people/wildlife/narcotics/cocaine
- launder drug money (through something)
- forge documents/certificates/passports
- take/accept/pay somebody/offer (somebody) a bribe
- run a phishing/an email/an internet scam
- combat/fight crime/terrorism/corruption/drug trafficking
- prevent/stop credit-card fraud/child abuse/software piracy
- deter/stop criminals/burglars/thieves/shoplifters/vandals
- reduce/tackle/crack down on knife/gun/violent/street crime; (especially British English) antisocial behaviour
- foil a bank raid/a terrorist plot
- help/support/protect the victims of crime
- report a crime/a theft/a rape/an attack/(especially British English) an incident to the police
- witness the crime/attack/murder/incident
- investigate a murder/(especially North American English) a homicide/a burglary/a robbery/the alleged incident
- conduct/launch/pursue an investigation (into…); (especially British English) a police/murder inquiry
- investigate/reopen a criminal/murder case
- examine/investigate/find fingerprints at the crime scene/the scene of crime
- collect/gather forensic evidence
- uncover new evidence/a fraud/a scam/a plot/a conspiracy/political corruption/a cache of weapons
- describe/identify a suspect/the culprit/the perpetrator/the assailant/the attacker
- question/interrogate a suspect/witness
- solve/crack the case
Extra ExamplesTopics Crime and punishmenta2- A thief snatched her handbag containing her wages.
- The alarm is usually sufficient to deter a would-be thief.
- The thief struck while the family were out.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- would-be
- common
- petty
- …
- gang
- catch
- snatch something
- steal something
- take something
- …
Word OriginOld English thīof, thēof, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch dief and German Dieb, also to theft.Definitions on the go
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Idioms
See thief in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee thief in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English(there is) honour among thieves
- (saying) used to say that even criminals have standards of behaviour that they respect
(as) thick as thieves
- (informal) (of two or more people) very friendly, especially in a way that makes other people suspect that something wrong, illegal or dishonest is involved in the situation
Check pronunciation:
thief