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Language tip of the week: steal
Posted by Kerstin Johnson on April 24, 2014
In this weekly post, we bring more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary to English language learners. These tips are usually based on areas of English which learners find difficult, e.g. spelling, grammar, collocation, synonyms, etc.This week’s language tip helps with other ways of saying steal:
rob to steal something from a person or place while using or threatening to use force or violence:
They robbed the local bank and drove off in a white car.
mug to attack a person in a public place and steal from them:
A woman of 85 was mugged in the street.
burgle to steal from a building that you have entered illegally:
We got back from holiday to find we’d been burgled.
shoplift to steal goods from a shop:
Security guards caught an elderly man shoplifting in the department store this afternoon.
break into to enter someone’s property illegally:
The thieves had managed to break into the car and take the stereo.
nick or pinch British (informal) to take something that belongs to someone else, usually used in a friendly way:
Someone’s nicked my pen!More language tips
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Recent Comments
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Posted by Mark Hoult to Rather interesting on April 24, 2014 I found this article pretty interesting and quite instructive. Thanks. I'll leave you to work out whether I'm American or English though :-)
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Posted by Swami Iyer to Marathi English – unofficial but officially so on April 18, 2014 hahahahaha my mother in law talks like this actually my whole wife's family talks like this ;) good one!
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Posted by Thomi to Is English going to the dog(e)s? on April 18, 2014 "Black English" can refer to two different language varieties: (1) the type of English used by people of African and Caribbean descent who live in Britain; (2) the language of African-Americans (negroes) in the United States. This is usually called Black English Vernacular or BEV for short. "Black English" in both senses has its historical roots in a creolised form of English which dates back to the time of slavery. Creoles are languages which evolve from...
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Posted by Stan to Depending on metaphor on April 17, 2014 Transubstantiation is a good example, Doré, and the debate you mention is one I used to mull over in my youth. It was (pun unintended) a hard one to swallow.
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Posted by Doré Bak to Depending on metaphor on April 16, 2014 Thank you for the reference to Sarah Kane’s play 4:48 Psychosis. It brings to mind the debate between Catholics and Protestants regarding the sacrament of the Eucharist. Is the bread literally the body of Christ? For Catholics, the metaphor of the bread is or becomes real. For Protestants, this metaphor is merely symbolic. This debate within the Christian community about transubstantiation is at the heart a debate about metaphors.
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Language and words in the news – 11th April, 2014
This post contains a selection of links related to language and words in the news. These can be items from the latest news, blog posts or interesting websites related to global English, language change, education in general, and language learning and teaching in particular. Feel free to contact us if you would like to submit a link […]
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In this weekly post, we bring more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary to English language learners. These tips are usually based on areas of English which learners find difficult, e.g. spelling, grammar, collocation, synonyms, etc. This week’s language tip helps with other ways of saying eat: have breakfast/lunch/dinner to eat a particular meal: Have […]
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