From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishrobberyrob‧ber‧y /ˈrɒbəri $ ˈrɑː-/ ●●○ noun (plural robberies) [countable, uncountable] SCCthe crime of stealing money or things from a bank, shop etc, especially using violence → theft, burglary Police are investigating a series of bank robberies in South Wales. He received a 10 year prison sentence for armed robbery (=robbery using a gun). He admitted attempted robbery and was given a suspended sentence.► see thesaurus at crime → daylight robbery at daylight(5), → highway robbery at highway(3)THESAURUSrobbery the crime of stealing money or other things from a bank, shop etc, especially by using threats or violenceMobile phones are a common target in street robberies.Armed robbery is a serious offence.theft the crime of stealing something, especially when the person they are stolen from is not presentCar thefts are on the increase.Security has been tightened since the theft of a $150,000 oil painting.burglary the crime of entering a house or other building illegally and stealing thingsMost burglaries occur when a house or apartment is empty.He was charged with burglary.break-in an occasion when someone breaks a door or window in order to enter a place and steal thingsThe break-in was the eighth on our street this year.There’s been a break-in at the newsagents.mugging a violent attack on someone in the street in order to rob themThere have been a number of muggings outside downtown hotels.raid an attack on a bank, shop etc, especially one in which the thieves use weaponsThe gang carried out an armed raid on a post office. bank job informal a carefully planned robbery of a bankThe money from the bank job was quickly taken out of the country.larceny law the crime of stealing something from someone, without using force or threats. This word is used mainly in American English. It is now old-fashioned in British EnglishHe pleaded guilty in New York to nine counts of grand larceny (=stealing things that are worth a lot of money).They were suspected of being involved in petty larceny (=stealing things that are not worth a lot of money).
Examples from the Corpus
robbery• Robbery was believed to be the motive for the killing.• He made two escape attempts while serving a sentence for armed robbery.• In an agreement with prosecutors, she pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter and two counts of armed robbery.• The rates of rape, armed robbery, etc would probably not fall very much.• His car had been damaged at least six times and he'd moved his double glazing factory because of three attempted robberies.• One major bank robbery had just come to trial.• The police are investigating a series of bank robberies.• Could be one those females we never did catch up with, identify, on the early robberies.• I took part in my first robbery when I was only thirteen years old.• Dines is already serving thirty months at a young offenders' institution for robbery.• Perkins was given five years in prison for robbery with violence.• The judge admitted the notes of interview and Francis was convicted of substantive offences of robbery.• Many travelers have been the victims of robberies on this road.• Police claim to have found the gun used in this morning's robbery of a downtown convenience store.• In the first nine months of this year there were 9611 street robberies involving violence.• A police officer was killed during the robbery.attempted robbery• It could be random, it could be an attempted robbery.• He was found guilty of murder and attempted murder and admitted two robberies and one attempted robbery.• Later, Williams also would be convicted of robbery and attempted robbery.• James Duncan Fleming was tried twice; at his second trial he was found not guilty of attempted robbery and felony murder.• Facts: pleaded guilty to two offences of robbery, one of attempted robbery and two of assault with intent to rob.• His car had been damaged at least six times and he'd moved his double glazing factory because of three attempted robberies.• Diaz has four prior felony convictions, including two attempted robberies, an attempted assault and a drug case. 