petit larceny
- noun
- /pəˈti lɑːr.sə.ni/
- Formal
:
hurto menor
- She was found guilty of petit larceny when she took a wallet containing only a small amount of cash.
Examples
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The defendant was charged with petit larceny after stealing several inexpensive items from the shop.
-
Under state law, petit larceny is considered a misdemeanor and carries a lesser penalty than grand larceny.
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He was charged with petit larceny after stealing a bicycle.
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The store owner reported several cases of petit larceny last month.
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The defendant was charged with petit larceny after stealing several inexpensive items from the shop.
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Under state law, petit larceny is considered a misdemeanor and carries a lesser penalty than grand larceny.
-
She was found guilty of petit larceny when she took a wallet containing only a small amount of cash.
Synonyms
356
1.1
An act of taking someone else's property without permission to keep it
45
7.2
Stealing something that belongs to someone else to keep it
3
6.9
Taking something worth less than a set amount, for example a small item from a shop
1
7.5
Stealing small items from a store or workplace, often done repeatedly
Antonyms
How Serious
- Formal
8
7.9
- Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward composition: 'petit' = small/minor and 'larceny' = unlawful taking, so together they literally mean a minor or low-value theft, which matches the given definition. Although 'petit larceny' is a legal loan phrase from French, its meaning is directly derivable from the constituents and is therefore predictable to a learner who knows both words.
Etymology
Petit larceny comes from old court language that used the French word petit meaning 'small' and larceny meaning 'theft'. So, today petit larceny means 'stealing something of low value' and is treated as a less serious crime than larger thefts.