verb

dérober

steal

Prendre quelque chose en secret, sans la permission de celui à qui cela appartient.

Definition & meaning

To steal something, often discreetly or by stealth.
- Il a dérobé un portefeuille. — He stole a wallet.
To conceal or hide something from view, especially in more formal or literary usage.
- Le brouillard dérobait la montagne à nos regards. — The fog hid the mountain from our view.
To evade or slip away, in the pronominal form se dérober. It can describe avoiding an obligation or someone’s gaze, or something giving way under a person.
- Elle s’est dérobée à ses responsabilités. — She evaded her responsibilities.
- Ses jambes se dérobent sous lui. — His legs give way beneath him.

Grammar & Word origin

Dérober is a regular -er verb. Its past participle is dérobé. In the pronominal form, se dérober, it takes être as its auxiliary in compound tenses.

It comes from the prefix dé- and the older verb rober , meaning “to steal.”

Synonyms & antonyms

voler — “to steal”; more common and broader than dérober, which often suggests stealth.
soustraire — “to remove” or “take away”; more formal and not necessarily theft.
cacher — “to hide”; a common synonym for the concealment sense.
éviter — “to avoid”; can be similar to se dérober, though it does not necessarily imply evasion.
rendre — “to return”; an opposite when something taken is given back.
révéler — “to reveal”; an opposite of the concealment sense.