Library / English Dictionary

BURGLARY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Entering a building unlawfully with intent to commit a felony or to steal valuable property

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("burglary" is a kind of...):

felony (a serious crime (such as murder or arson))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "burglary"):

break-in; breaking and entering; housebreaking (trespassing for an unlawful purpose; illegal entrance into premises with criminal intent)

Derivation:

burglarious (involving or resembling burglary)

burglarize; burgle (commit a burglary; enter and rob a dwelling)

Credits

 Context examples: 

He spoke of some burglary which, he said, had been committed in the West End, and he appeared, I remember, to be quite unnecessarily excited about it, declaring that a day should not pass before we should add stronger bolts to our windows and doors.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was a stroke of positive genius on his part to see in the burglary scare which was convulsing the country side an opportunity of plausibly getting rid of the man whom he feared.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)