Rob vs. Steal

Ladies and gentlemen, get ready to learn about the slight details of these words. I present to you the differences and similarities between 'rob' and 'steal'.

What Is Their Main Difference?

Both refer to taking away someone's property without their permission. However, 'rob' points out the community, place, or people that have been stolen from, whereas, 'steal' refers to the object that has been taken away.

Differences

As mentioned above, 'rob' manly talks about the person, community, place, etc. that have lost an object. Check out the examples below:

The thieves robbed Jonathan last night.

The bank of Spain was robbed three times before.

'Steal', however, refers to the item that has been taken away from someone/somewhere. Look at the following examples:

Oh no! They stole my credit card again.

200 cars were stolen this year in this city.

Similarities

As mentioned above, both refer to taking away what belongs to someone/somewhere. Check out below:

I was robbed yesterday and now you're asking me what do I plan to do for my birthday?

My diamonds were all stolen.

Are They Interchangeable?

These two can never be used interchangeably because 'rob' cannot refer to the item that was being taken away. Compare:

✓ A group of masked thieves stole lots of money from the supermarket.

X A group of masked thieves robbed lots of money from the supermarket.

As you can see, this one is wrong.

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