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burglary

UK/ˈbɜː.ɡlə.ɹi/US/ˈbɝ.ɡlɚ.i/
nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #4,403 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: burglaries

Burglary is breaking into a building in order to steal what is inside. The entry is what makes it burglary.

English law is precise about this, since burglary requires entering a building as a trespasser with intent to steal or cause harm, while robbery involves force or threat against a person and theft needs neither. That three-way distinction decides the charge and the sentence. The person is a burglar and the verb is burgle in Britain and burglarize in America. Aggravated burglary is the version involving a weapon.

Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain

Definitions of burglary

  1. 1nounburglaryThe crime of entering a building illegally in order to steal.B2

    “There have been three burglaries on the street this year.”

Where it comes from

  1. New Latin

    burglaria

  2. English, today

    burglary

From New Latin burglaria. by surface analysis, en + burglar + y. Displaced native hūsbryċe.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 2 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

burglary in the wild

  • Usually that offence is theft, larceny, robbery, or murder, but most jurisdictions include others within the ambit of burglary.

    Burglary

  • Howard Hunt, Liddy organized and directed the burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate building in May and June 1972.

    G. Gordon Liddy

  • Liddy was convicted of burglary, conspiracy, and refusing to testify to the Senate committee investigating Watergate.

    G. Gordon Liddy

  • In 2005, Brancato was arrested in connection with a burglary during which an off-duty police officer was killed.

    Lillo Brancato

  • Involved in several legal problems during and after his playing career, Meggett was convicted in 2010 on burglary and criminal sexual conduct charges.

    Dave Meggett

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.