noun · neutral
theft
/θɛft/THEFT
Band 4-5speakingtask1task2
The act of taking someone else's property without permission.
Examples
“The shop owner reported a theft last Saturday.”
“Petty theft is common in tourist areas.”
“He was accused of several counts of theft.”
Band 8 sentence
“Because petty theft often goes unreported, official statistics can underestimate the true scale of the problem.”
Collocations
- report a theft
- petty theft
- accused of theft
Word family
steal verbthief nountheft noun
Common mistakes
He commit theft.→He committed theft. / He committed a theft.
There were many theft reported.→There were many thefts reported.
Say it for a higher band
5steal→6rob→7+theft
Synonyms
robbery
Easily confused
robbery
“The police recorded five thefts in the neighbourhood this month.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In Crime & Law
Learn it with its set