as in thief
a person who steals money and other things from people's pockets and purses
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Recent Examples of pickpocket
But that plan, worked up by Lord and Lady Davenport (Damian Lewis and Katherine Waterston), gets complicated when a handsome pickpocket named Eric (Ben Radcliffe) mistakenly lands a job at the estate and sets his sights on Rose.
—
Elaina Patton, IndieWire, 3 Dec. 2025
Unlike the card scams of previous years, this method executes a full transaction, delivering cash directly to an account controlled by the thief, kind of like a virtual pickpocket.
—Paolo Dal Cin, Fortune, 19 Nov. 2025
Other things to be prepared for: appropriate attire in certain settings, paying to use public restrooms across much of Europe, drinking culture in religious areas, and safety issues like pickpockets.
—Essence, 12 Nov. 2025
Afterwards, walk through the dazzling Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, pausing to admire the glass dome and beautiful mosaic floors (but beware of pickpockets).
—Laura Itzkowitz, AFAR Media, 3 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pickpocket
Elaina Patton, IndieWire, 3 Dec. 2025
Unlike the card scams of previous years, this method executes a full transaction, delivering cash directly to an account controlled by the thief, kind of like a virtual pickpocket.
—Paolo Dal Cin, Fortune, 19 Nov. 2025
Other things to be prepared for: appropriate attire in certain settings, paying to use public restrooms across much of Europe, drinking culture in religious areas, and safety issues like pickpockets.
—Essence, 12 Nov. 2025
Afterwards, walk through the dazzling Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, pausing to admire the glass dome and beautiful mosaic floors (but beware of pickpockets).
—Laura Itzkowitz, AFAR Media, 3 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pickpocket
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pickpocket
Noun
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Over the next two months or so, work will focus inside the 190,000-square-foot, bunker-like structure — vacant for nearly two decades and long the target of vandals and the object of thieves who stripped the concrete structure of anything of value.—
Kenneth R. Gosselin,
Hartford Courant,
14 Jan. 2026
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That information is now in the hands of identity thieves and potentially hostile foreign adversaries, patiently waiting for the right moment to strike.—
Barbara McQuade,
Mercury News,
13 Jan. 2026
Noun
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One robber also used pepper spray.—
Cameron Macdonald,
Mercury News,
7 Jan. 2026
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Police said in each instance, two to four robbers exited a white sedan, approached the victims, and demanded their personal items at gunpoint.—
Adam Harrington,
CBS News,
5 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Good afternoon and welcome to Con Con, the convention for swindlers, mountebanks, and the people who love them.—
Henry Alford,
New Yorker,
1 Dec. 2025
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But he's been a swindler his entire life.—
Adeola Adeosun,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 Nov. 2025
Noun
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When Ferrara was starting out, private investment in low-budget films was spurred by tax loopholes, a way for doctors, dentists, and racketeers to get rid of extra cash that would otherwise wind up in Uncle Sam’s grubby mitts.—
Nick Pinkerton,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Oct. 2025
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In a police photograph, Lansky stood next to racketeer Charles (Lucky) Luciano.—
Miami Herald Archives,
Miami Herald,
3 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Or downtown was too unsafe, during the gangster era.—
Jared Kaufman,
Twin Cities,
11 Jan. 2026
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Beset by gangs and guns, the Haçienda faltered in the ’90s despite clever-sounding schemes such as replacing the club’s security with the gangsters themselves.—
Boris Kachka,
The Atlantic,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
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These involve raiding the lairs of hoodlum rivals, then singlehandedly dissuading them from competition.—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
28 Oct. 2025
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The story, originally conceived by Truffaut, is a thin, desultory affair, about a French hoodlum on the run and his doomed fling with an American expat.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
27 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Ciri, unbeknowest to her surrogate ma and pa, is free of her Nilfgaardian captors and on the run with a band of adolescent ruffians, and perhaps figuring out how to take care of herself.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
30 Oct. 2025
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When both young people meet their end the Baron saves Christina by putting Hans’ brain in Christina’s body, uniting their blurred identities in a joint thirst for revenge, creating a Gothic avenger who hunts down the aristocratic ruffians who ruined their happiness.—
Rory Doherty,
Vulture,
20 Oct. 2025
Noun
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In this black comedy adapted from the graphic novel, when a bunch of thugs come to her door demanding that Paige’s grandfather (Liam Neeson) help them out with a bank heist, Paige decides to rescue him by doing it herself, with her friends.—
Emily Temple,
Literary Hub,
12 Jan. 2026
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Although the film became a template for white revenge fantasies, its street thugs are assembled with almost comic care to avoid racial bias.—
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
12 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pickpocket.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pickpocket. Accessed 15 Jan. 2026.
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