as in to steal
to take (something) without right and with an intent to keep
the studio stepped up security, fearing that someone might attempt to purloin a copy of the script for the show's season finale
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Recent Examples of purloin
For years, Huawei had been building up its research capacity, trying to shed its reputation as a low-cost provider whose tech came from purloining the discoveries of others.
—
Steven Levy, WIRED, 16 Nov. 2020
In 2022-23, before its richest teams were purloined by other power conferences, the average public Pac-12 athletic department spent $130.8 million and earned $121.5 million in revenue.
—Daniel Libit, Sportico.com, 3 Sep. 2019
Almost all of it was hearsay, rather than purloined documents.
—Stephen Kotkin, Foreign Affairs, 19 Sep. 2017
Just as shoppers in the United States were grappling with the theft of 70 million credit card accounts from Target, comes word that credit card data for nearly half of all South Koreans has been purloined.
—IEEE Spectrum, 22 Jan. 2014
See All Example Sentences for purloin
Steven Levy, WIRED, 16 Nov. 2020
In 2022-23, before its richest teams were purloined by other power conferences, the average public Pac-12 athletic department spent $130.8 million and earned $121.5 million in revenue.
—Daniel Libit, Sportico.com, 3 Sep. 2019
Almost all of it was hearsay, rather than purloined documents.
—Stephen Kotkin, Foreign Affairs, 19 Sep. 2017
Just as shoppers in the United States were grappling with the theft of 70 million credit card accounts from Target, comes word that credit card data for nearly half of all South Koreans has been purloined.
—IEEE Spectrum, 22 Jan. 2014
See All Example Sentences for purloin
Recent Examples of Synonyms for purloin
steal
Verb
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The bots would impersonate beneficiaries, using dates of birth and other information that can be found on the internet, to try to change the beneficiaries’ bank-routing information and steal their benefits.—
Eli Hager,
ProPublica,
8 Sep. 2025
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Through the first week of September, Soto stole three bases.—
Will Sammon,
New York Times,
8 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Purloin.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/purloin. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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