burgling

verb

present participle of burgle
1
as in invading
to enter a house or building by force usually with illegal intent someone burgled the lab when no one was there and let the animals out of their cages

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in robbing
to remove valuables from (a place) unlawfully the neighbors returned from vacation to find that their house had been burgled

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for burgling
  1. invading
  2. robbing
Verb
  • Frantic skirmishes between the family and the beast take place as the house floods, and eventually the invading creature is tangled up in a trap.
    — William Earl, Variety, 8 Aug. 2026
  • But when his ice cream-eating schoolmates begin slaughtering their parents overnight, seemingly fueled by the wafting sound of the truck jingle and old-timey black-and-white animations invading their phones, Jared seems like the lucky one.
    — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of invading
Verb
  • Tracy Daryl Mingo is accused of wearing various disguises while robbing metro Atlanta Circle Ks, Subways, and Family Dollars.
    — Dan Raby, CBS News, 6 Aug. 2026
  • Thieves have long used a variety of methods — tapping into ducts, hijacking tanker trucks or robbing directly from facilities of Petroleos Mexicanos, the state energy company known as Pemex.
    — Foreign Correspondent, Los Angeles Times, 3 Aug. 2026
Definition of robbing
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

burgles
burgling
burgs
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Cite this Entry

“Burgling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/burgling. Accessed 11 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on burgling

Nglish: Translation of burgling for Spanish Speakers

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