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
The technology promises efficiency and fairness, but travelers are discovering that AI often acts more like a digital pickpocket than an impartial assistant.
—
Christopher Elliott, USA Today, 9 Sep. 2025
Because Paris is a magical place, Belly’s pickpocket takes her backpack directly to a rave without even bothering to open it.
—Kathleen Walsh, Vulture, 3 Sep. 2025
Her phone had vanished — lifted by a subway pickpocket with a magician's touch.
—Jj Rosen, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025
Wearing it across your body — especially with the bag positioned in front — adds an extra layer of security against pickpockets eyeing your phone or wallet.
—Maggie Horton, People.com, 13 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for pickpocket
Christopher Elliott, USA Today, 9 Sep. 2025
Because Paris is a magical place, Belly’s pickpocket takes her backpack directly to a rave without even bothering to open it.
—Kathleen Walsh, Vulture, 3 Sep. 2025
Her phone had vanished — lifted by a subway pickpocket with a magician's touch.
—Jj Rosen, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025
Wearing it across your body — especially with the bag positioned in front — adds an extra layer of security against pickpockets eyeing your phone or wallet.
—Maggie Horton, People.com, 13 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for pickpocket
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pickpocket
Noun
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Believe it or not, this extra step is enough to make most thieves move on to easier prey.—
Katie Jackson,
Travel + Leisure,
26 Oct. 2025
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Police were racing the clock to find the intruders; experts say thieves of such treasures typically dismantle or melt down the loot, sometimes within hours, to avoid being caught.—
Robert Abitbol,
USA Today,
25 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Prosecutors say the robbery took between six and seven minutes, and the robbers were unarmed but threatened guards with the angle grinders.—
N'dea Yancey-Bragg,
USA Today,
21 Oct. 2025
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This marks the first attempt at bringing to the screen the fictional island of Catan — a place where settlers must navigate bountiful and varied landscapes, shifting alliances, and limited resources, while robbers roam the land.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
21 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Serial swindlers and men prone to violence are among the seven people Colorado’s gambling regulators have banned for life from casinos since the state created a system last year for barring problem bettors.—
Noelle Phillips,
Denver Post,
20 Oct. 2025
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McKelway, who wrote for the magazine from the nineteen-thirties to the sixties, specialized in true-crime stories, bringing to life a gallery of scamps and swindlers and impostors.—
David Grann,
New Yorker,
19 Oct. 2025
Noun
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In a police photograph, Lansky stood next to racketeer Charles (Lucky) Luciano.—
Miami Herald Archives,
Miami Herald,
3 Apr. 2025
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In the other corner: Vito Genovese, Costello’s childhood friend and fellow racketeer, who had to leave town long ago because of a thing, and has now come home to resume his place in the Mafia hierarchy.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
20 Mar. 2025
Noun
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The other is about Chicago-style gangsters circa 1929.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
20 Oct. 2025
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Yes, there are gangster films, the crime movies, and then there’s The Wolf of Wall Street, which is a really profound piece of work.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
19 Oct. 2025
Noun
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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
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Aleah and Grasso end up saving Lizzie’s ass and capturing the hoodlums.—
Grace Byron,
Vulture,
22 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Friends and neighbors worried that these rumors could attract dangerous young ruffians who might harm them and steal the money.—
Mara Bovsun,
New York Daily News,
15 Dec. 2024
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Then again, the fight scene did that on its own, sounding more refined than ruffian.—
Hannah Edgar,
Chicago Tribune,
20 Sep. 2024
Noun
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This haunting film was also his first collaboration with Hellboy’s Ron Perlman, who plays a thug out to get the beetle for his rich uncle.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
17 Oct. 2025
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In The Big Lebowski, thugs mistake the titular slacker (Bridges) for the wealthy Jeffrey Lebowski, sending him on a wild investigation with his pal Walter (John Goodman) into a ransom plot involving Lebowski’s young wife (Tara Reid).—
Glenn Garner,
Deadline,
8 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pickpocket.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pickpocket. Accessed 26 Oct. 2025.
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