as in thieves
a person who steals money and other things from people's pockets and purses
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Recent Examples of pickpockets
This anti-theft sling bag has lockable zippers, a hidden back pocket, and RFID-blocking technology—all of which will deter potential pickpockets while docked at each port.
—
Anna Popp, Travel + Leisure, 14 Apr. 2026
And when the 25,000 Social Security checks worth $8 million are delivered each month, police say 80 pickpockets arrive to prey on the elderly.
—Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 27 Feb. 2026
Rafiq suspected that the anxiety suffusing the market had made any pickpockets unlikely to be scoping out potential shoppers.
—Literary Hub, 8 Jan. 2026
Anna Popp, Travel + Leisure, 14 Apr. 2026
And when the 25,000 Social Security checks worth $8 million are delivered each month, police say 80 pickpockets arrive to prey on the elderly.
—Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 27 Feb. 2026
Rafiq suspected that the anxiety suffusing the market had made any pickpockets unlikely to be scoping out potential shoppers.
—Literary Hub, 8 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pickpockets
Noun
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With the thieves and vandals digging up gravestones and stealing plaques made of precious metals, Bishop has spent an extraordinary amount of money on repairs, security and maintenance.—
Nicole Comstock,
CBS News,
12 Apr. 2026
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In that heist, thieves made off with $102 million worth of jewels and escaped via a cherry picker, with a global manhunt ensuing.—
Leigh Anne Miller,
ARTnews.com,
10 Apr. 2026
Noun
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But as the crisis hurtles towards breaking point, the story rewinds, with viewers pulled inside the bank to relive the same events through the eyes of the robbers and their hostages.—
Alex Ritman,
Variety,
7 Apr. 2026
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Yet key dramatic moments—a shooting, the robbers’ realization that the bank vault is empty—occurred in a hallway invisible to the audience, described secondhand.—
Emily Nussbaum,
New Yorker,
2 Apr. 2026
Noun
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This scam, according to Kent, could be proliferated with the use of AI, which can allow swindlers to enroll in many different college programs at once.—
Peter D'Abrosca,
FOXNews.com,
21 Jan. 2026
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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
Noun
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The characters were based on a real family of bookmakers and racketeers who once lived in England.—
Sarah Moore,
Freep.com,
5 Mar. 2026
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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
Noun
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Winschel said the vandals focused on stripping copper wire from electrical fixtures.—
Terra Sullivan,
CBS News,
13 Apr. 2026
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Failing to light the gasoline with a long gauze fuse, the vandals tossed a kerosene torch through a porch window, the story stated.—
Cam'ron Hardy,
Chicago Tribune,
3 Apr. 2026
Noun
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They get captured by Hungarian gangsters and have to fight (and kill) their way out of an inn run by a shady former dance prodigy (Uma Thurman).—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
4 Apr. 2026
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Once housing notorious gangsters such as Al Capone, the notorious Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary closed its doors to prisoners in 1963, since becoming a museum.—
Zach Halaschak,
The Washington Examiner,
3 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The first pictures McCullin took were of hoodlums and down-and-outs, subjects that reflected his own hardscrabble background.—
Andrew Pulver,
Air Mail,
31 Jan. 2026
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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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In fact, the GTW ruffians have to give the Big Honey some props for his relative restraint in the heat of the moment.—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
28 Feb. 2026
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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
Cite this Entry
“Pickpockets.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pickpockets. Accessed 20 Apr. 2026.
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