different between abduct vs steal

English

Etymology

From Latin abductus, perfect passive participle of abduco (“to lead away”), from ab (“away”) + duco (“to lead”).

• (physiology): Back-formation from abduction.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /æb?d?kt/, /æb?d?kt/
• Rhymes: -?kt

Verb

abduct (third-person singular simple present abducts, present participle abducting, simple past and past participle abducted)

1. (transitive) To take away by force; to carry away (a human being) wrongfully and usually with violence or deception; to kidnap. [Early 17^th century.]

2. (transitive, anatomy) To draw away, as a limb or other part, from the median axis of the body. [Early 17^th century.]

Synonyms

• carry off
• drag away
• kidnap
• run away with
• seize
• spirit away
• stretch
• take away

Antonyms

• adduct
• reinstate
• restore

Derived terms

• abductee
• abductive

Related terms

Translations

References

English

Etymology

From Middle English stelen, from Old English stelan, from Proto-Germanic *stelan? (compare West Frisian stelle, Low German stehlen, Dutch stelen, German stehlen, Danish stjæle, Swedish stjäla,Norwegian stjele); see below for more.

Pronunciation

• enPR: st?l, IPA^(key): /sti?l/
• Rhymes: -i?l
• Homophones: steel, stele

Verb

steal (third-person singular simple present steals, present participle stealing, simple past stole, past participle stolen or (nonstandard, colloquial) stole)

1. (transitive) To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else.
   • "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal. I never did that. I always made up my mind I'd be a big man some day, and—I'm glad I didn't steal."

2. (transitive, of ideas, words, music, a look, credit, etc.) To appropriate without giving credit or acknowledgement.

3. (transitive) To get or effect surreptitiously or artfully.

   • Variety of objects has a tendency to steal away the mind too often from its steady pursuit of any subject.

   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Great Place

     Always, when thou changest thine opinion or course, profess it plainly, […] and do not think to steal it.

4. (transitive, colloquial) To acquire at a low price.

5. (transitive) To draw attention unexpectedly in (an entertainment), especially by being the outstanding performer. Usually used in the phrase steal the show.
6. (intransitive) To move silently or secretly.
   • 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room Ch.1:

     "Did he take his bottle well?" Mrs. Flanders whispered, and Rebecca nodded and went to the cot and turned down the quilt, and Mrs. Flanders bent over and looked anxiously at the baby, asleep, but frowning. The window shook, and Rebecca stole like a cat and wedged it.
7. (transitive) To convey (something) clandestinely.
8. To withdraw or convey (oneself) clandestinely.

   • They could insinuate and steal themselves under the same by their humble carriage and submission.
9. (transitive, baseball) To advance safely to (another base) during the delivery of a pitch, without the aid of a hit, walk, passed ball, wild pitch, or defensive indifference.
10. (sports, transitive) To dispossess
11. (informal, transitive) To borrow for a short moment.

Synonyms

• (to illegally take possession of): See Thesaurus:steal
• (to secretly move): sneak

Antonyms

• (acquire licitly) receive, purchase, buy, earn
• (provide freely) donate, bestow, grant

Troponyms

• shoplift

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• burglarize
• burgle
• confiscate
• pickpocket
• pilfer
• steal away

Noun

steal (plural steals)

1. The act of stealing.
2. A piece of merchandise available at a very attractive price.

   At this price, this car is a steal.

3. (basketball, ice hockey) A situation in which a defensive player actively takes possession of the ball or puck from the opponent's team.
4. (baseball) A stolen base.
5. (curling) Scoring in an end without the hammer.
6. (computing) A policy in database systems that a database follows which allows a transaction to be written on nonvolatile storage before its commit occurs.

Synonyms

• (merchandise available at a very attractive price): (great / real / very good) bargain

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Astle, ETLAs, Slate, Teals, Tesla, astel, laste, lates, least, leats, salet, setal, slate, stale, stela, taels, tales, teals, telas, tesla