Definitions
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A person affected with kleptomania.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun One who
steals compulsively .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun someone with an irrational urge to steal in the absence of an economic motive
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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The word kleptomaniac has appeared in three New York Times articles in the past year, including on April 3 in "The Workout Begins When Pants Go Missing" by Dan Bilefsky:
NYT > Home Page By THE LEARNING NETWORK 2012
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Hugh, do you think the poor chap might be what they call a kleptomaniac; that is a person who has an irresistible inclination to take things that don't belong to him, or her, and generally has no use for them after stealing the same?
The Chums of Scranton High Hugh Morgan's Uphill Fight Donald Ferguson
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Learn more about the word "kleptomaniac" and see usage examples across a range of subjects on the Vocabulary.com dictionary.
NYT > Home Page By THE LEARNING NETWORK 2012
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Ah, transit wonk Dan Bertolet ... a slightly more credible voice than Dave Meinert in this debate, in the way a kleptomaniac is slightly more trustworthy than a meth addict.
Council Should Unite Behind McGinn On The Tunnel Cost Overrun Provision « PubliCola 2010
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Psychotic greedy kleptomaniac is a better description for republican politicians and their reichwing zombie army.
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In handling those thefts which were formerly called kleptomaniac, and which, in spite of the refusal to use this term, are undeniable, it is customary, if they recur repeatedly, to see whether pregnancy is not the cause.
Criminal Psychology: a manual for judges, practitioners, and students 1911
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Usually the kleptomaniac is a woman, with an insane desire to steal for the mere sake of stealing.
The Dream Doctor 1908
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He is quite mad, and a much more obvious public pest than any other kind of kleptomaniac; but though he is a cheat, he is not an illusion.
A Miscellany of Men 1905
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This is very frequently the case with that class of shop-lifters called, by courtesy, the "kleptomaniac," -- the wealthy lady who steals what she could easily have purchased.
Danger! A True History of a Great City's Wiles and Temptations The Veil Lifted, and Light Thrown on Crime and its Causes, and Criminals and their Haunts. Facts and Disclosures. Abraham H. Hummel 1887
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Leastwise 'kleptomaniac' is what Colonel Sterett calls it when he's tellin 'me of a party who's afflicted sim'lar.
Wolfville Nights Alfred Henry Lewis 1885
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