robber

Pronunciation: /ˈɹɑ.bɚ/

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a thief who steals from someone by threatening violence

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English robbour, robbere, either directly taken from or from a calque of Old French robeor. Equivalent to rob + -er. Compare reaver (“robber, plunderer”), a native English word derived from Proto-Germanic *raubārijaz that is ultimately of more or less the same composition as robber. And compare rover (“a pirate”), another word of the same composition.

In classic literature

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
thief
Narrower (hyponyms)
mugger, bank robber

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