petty thieves
Minor league criminals
Petty thieves are people who steal items of relatively low value—shoplifters, pickpockets, those who swipe packages from porches.
The modifier petty distinguishes them from burglars, armed robbers, or white-collar criminals operating on larger scales: The market was plagued by petty thieves targeting tourists.
- pickpocketsThose who steal belongings
- five-finger discountSlang for shoplifting
- shopliftersThose who steal merchandise
- smash and grabViolent quick robbery
- snatch and runSwift theft with escape
crooks · swindlers · hustlers · grifters · on the take · lowlifes · scoundrels · riffraff · muggers · burglars · cat burglar · criminals · street crime · sticky fingers · light-fingered · sneaky · pilfering · snatching
petty thieveskingpins
Dominant figures in organizations
crime bosses · crime lords · mob bosses · cat burglars · jewel thieves
petty thievesphilanthropists
Generous supporters of good causes
benefactors · pillars of the community · Good Samaritans · saints · do-gooders
petty, thieves, thief, pettier, pettiest, pettily, pettiness, petit, petite