- rob
- rob vb Rob, plunder, rifle, loot, burglarize are comparable when they mean to take unlawfully possessions of a person or from a place. All in this basic use imply both an owner of and value inherent in the thing taken.In its basic and legal use rob implies the taking of personal property or valuables from another or from a place in a felonious manner (as by the exercise of violence, by intimidation, or by trickery or fraud){
rob a bank
}{rob a man of his savings by selling him worthless securities
}In extended use rob implies deprivation by unjust means or by powers beyond one's control{rob a person of his good name
}{the high winds robbed the trees of their fruit
}{a tree robs the adjacent soil of moisture and fertility
}Plunder implies a despoliation by force (as by armies in war or organized gangs and bandits); it often suggests robbery on an extensive scale or a ravaging or pillaging of a territory{travelers through the remote sections of the country were in constant danger of being plundered
}{plunder a warehouse
}{plundering wrecked ships . . . was a well- established business in many places on our shores— Shaw
}Sometimes it is extended to wasting or destroying that suggests a pillaging{the reduction of soil erosion and plundering of the soil— Farmer's Weekly
}{big business which serves the great metropolis, or plunders it— Upton Sinclair
}Rifle, like plunder, usually implies a despoliation of possessions or valuables, but it distinctively stresses a breaking into and ransacking and therefore usually takes as its object a place, building, treasury, or receptacle{rifle a strongbox
}{rifle a palace
}{rifle a man's pockets
}But the word may also be used when ransacking for the sake of finding something is the chief implication{awakened ... to find him rifling through her desk in a desperate search for writing materials— Brand Blanshard
}Loot differs from plunder chiefly in its suggestion of circumstances which explain the despoliation or make it exceedingly reprehensible; it sometimes implies defiance of all laws governing civilized conduct{loot the bodies of those killed in a wreck
}or desperation{if we left them to starve they would begin by breaking our windows and end by looting our shops and burning our houses— Shaw
}or utter venality{pressing indelicate questions about . . . the looting of the forest and mineral reserves—G. W. Johnson
}but it quite commonly refers to pillaging by undisci-plined soldiers or by mobs{soldiers looted the town after it was captured
}Burglarize implies an act of breaking and entering by night in order to steal; usually, however, it carries, as burglary in law does not necessarily carry, an implication that one's purpose has been accomplished{the house was burglarized while its occupants were asleep
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
