Meaning & use
thieving
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Often stealing things; regularly involved in theft.
Grammar: Usually comes before a noun, as in a thieving neighbor; it is not used after 'be' in careful speech.
Patterns
- a thieving + noun
- thieving hands
The old woman accused her thieving neighbor of taking her mail.
He called the boys a bunch of thieving rascals and chased them off.
Everyone in the village knew about the thieving shopkeeper.
noununcountable
The act or practice of stealing, especially when it happens repeatedly.
Grammar: Uncountable; takes a singular verb, as in 'The thieving has stopped.'
Patterns
- put a stop to the thieving
- the thieving in a place
The manager installed cameras to put a stop to the thieving in the warehouse.
Constant thieving at the market forced several stalls to close.
The police blamed the thieving on a small group of teenagers.
Common combinations
- a thieving magpie
- A thieving magpie had carried off the shiny spoon.
- thieving hands
- Keep your thieving hands off my wallet.
- a thieving bunch
- The landlord called us a thieving bunch when we asked for repairs.
- put a stop to the thieving
- Better locks finally put a stop to the thieving.
- accused of thieving
- Two workers were accused of thieving from the till.
Synonyms and how they differ
- stealing
- Stealing is the general everyday word for taking what is not yours; thieving is more informal and often suggests a habit or a person's character.
- dishonest
- Dishonest covers all kinds of lying and cheating, not only taking things, so it is broader than thieving.
- light-fingered
- Light-fingered is a gentler, slightly humorous way to say someone tends to steal small things.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: thieving or thievery?
thieving vs thievery
Thievery is the noun for the practice or crime of stealing; thieving as a noun is more informal and often refers to repeated small thefts.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'thieving' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Blame something on someone' fits with the uncountable noun 'thieving' meaning repeated stealing. The first option wrongly uses 'thieving' as a verb of motion, and the other two sound unnatural because 'thieving' as a noun is not normally used with 'of' for one specific act.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “thieving”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.