to take something from (someone) by unlawful force or threat of violence; steal from.
to deprive (someone) of some right or something legally due.
They robbed her of her inheritance.
to plunder or rifle (a house, shop, etc.).
to deprive of something unjustly or injuriously.
The team was robbed of a home run hitter when the umpire called it a foul ball. The shock robbed him of his speech.
Mining. to remove ore or coal from (a pillar).
(tr) to take something from (someone) illegally, as by force or threat of violence
to plunder (a house, shop, etc)
(tr) to deprive unjustly
to be robbed of an opportunity
What does rob mean? To rob is to steal, especially by force or through threats of violence. A person who robs is called a robber, and the act of robbing is called robbery. A robber can rob a person or a place, such as a house or business. The act of robbing a person on the street is often called mugging. The act of robbing a bank is called bank robbery and a person who does it is called a bank robber. Armed robbery involves robbing a person or place while armed with a weapon. Rob and steal are often used interchangeably in terms of their general meaning, but their use within a sentence often differs. The word rob often focuses on the victim of the theft (whether it’s a person or a place), whereas steal often focuses on what has been stolen. So you can rob a bank, a person, or a house, whereas you steal money, diamonds, or cars. A bank robber doesn’t steal banks (unless they’re Carmen Sandiego, maybe)—they steal money from banks. However, the word rob is sometimes followed by the word of and the thing that’s been taken, as in She robbed me of thousands of dollars! The word rob can also be used in a kind of figurative way meaning to unfairly deprive someone of something, especially something abstract or intangible. If someone prevents you from doing something, you can say they robbed you of the chance to do it. Death is said to rob us of our loved ones. If someone loses a competition not because they were fairly defeated but because of some technicality, they might say “I was robbed!”Unrelatedly, the name Rob is short for Robert. Example: The suspect is accused of robbing seven banks during a three-month period.
Rob, rifle, sack refer to seizing possessions that belong to others. Rob is the general word for taking possessions by unlawful force or violence: to rob a bank, a house, a train. A term with a more restricted meaning is rifle, to make a thorough search for what is valuable or worthwhile, usually within a small space: to rifle a safe. On the other hand, sack is a term for robbery on a huge scale during war; it suggests destruction accompanying pillage, and often includes the indiscriminate massacre of civilians: to sack a town or district.
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English robben, from Old French robber, from Germanic; compare Old High German roubōn. See reave 1
To rob is to steal something using violence (or the threat of violence). A criminal might rob a bank by pretending to have a weapon. Use the verb rob when you're talking about a crime — like when a bandit robs a train in the movies, or an outlaw robs the general store on TV. You can also use it to mean "deprive," as in "Having to ride my bike to school is only going to rob me of my energy by the time I get there." Rob comes from the Old French rober, "rob, steal, or ransack."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It has been designed by evil robots to rob wonder and suck the soul out of a beautiful game based on constant flow.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
He demonstrated strength and awareness to rob Tunisia captain Ellyes Skhiri and set up a goal for strike partner Viktor Gyokeres in the second half.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
“They enjoy the content. And I’m not going to rob baseball fans of great baseball entertainment just to solve a problem that only exists in the minds of x bots.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
That said, it’s unlikely that many students today spend as much time as Felix did dodging crossbow-wielding monks in an effort to rob freshly dug graves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
For all I knew he was going to rob the house in a moment; I wouldn't have been surprised to see sinister faces, the faces of "Wolfshiem's people," behind him in the dark shrubbery.
From " The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
“The big question is how quickly gas production grows into the new capacity,” said Rob Wilson, president of energy data firm East Daley Analytics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said at a press conference on Wednesday.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
It will be a battle of two former world champions in round two as Price faces Rob Cross after the Englishman's comprehensive 10-3 win over 10th seed Danny Noppert of the Netherlands.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
The difference, says Prof Rob Ford, is that Burnham's fashion choices have cut through with the public.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
Walt’s family was in Baton Rouge, and it was likely that Rob and Walt would go there for the weekend, he said.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
It robs them of the one thing my father’s midnight taxi shifts gave me: the knowledge that I could do it myself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Also, giving properties as gifts, rather than as inheritances, robs them of their tax-advantaged step-up in basis.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 16, 2026
Humorous responses to rage bait, which depends on eliciting defensiveness that can be fed back into the outrage machine, robs it of oxygen.
From Salon ● Dec. 8, 2025
“The theft that occurred represents a brazen act that robs the public of our state’s cultural heritage,” said museum Chief Executive Lori Fogarty in a statement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2025
"The prodigal robs his heir; the miser robs himself."
From New Word-Analysis by William Swinton
They agreed that being exactly right all of the time wasn’t worth the misery of waiting so long to witness a goal—and then being robbed of that moment of ecstasy when it gets overturned.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Had the advent of intensive parenting robbed the holiday of its spark?
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
Vicki said she feels robbed of the newborn period.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
The Knicks winning the finals as fast as they did actually robbed the arena itself of a major spending event, a possibility that my colleagues Nate Wolf and Janet H. Cho pointed out last week.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
My parents crossed the border like that, too, and even got robbed, but at least they made it here alive.
From "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter" by Erika L. Sánchez
Now Spirit is gone, robbing us all of the airline likeliest to pester United, Delta, and American into lowering their prices more quickly once fuel prices go down.
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
Related inflation concerns could still keep the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates, he cautioned, robbing small caps and other interest-rate-sensitive stocks of a key source of support.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 9, 2026
Prosecutor Lesley Bates KC told the court Elkin and Bell Funerals was "insolvent" and its business model was "a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul".
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2026
Because while the Olympics may help the sport gather viewers, it has done little to reverse a steady decline in participation at the grassroots level, which is robbing the sport of its future athletes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2025
“It’s very old looking. Been robbing the royal coffer, have you?”
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.