The difference between Earn and Steal
When used as verbs, earn means to gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work, whereas steal means to take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else.
Steal is also noun with the meaning: the act of stealing.
check bellow for the other definitions of Earn and Steal
-
Earn as a verb (transitive):
To gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work.
Examples:
"You can have the s'mores: you earned them, clearing the walkway of snow so well."
-
Earn as a verb (transitive):
To receive payment for work.
Examples:
"He earns seven million dollars a year as CEO.  My bank account is only earning one percent interest."
"rfex en"
-
Earn as a verb (intransitive):
To receive payment for work.
Examples:
"Now that you are earning, you can start paying me rent."
-
Earn as a verb (transitive):
To cause (someone) to receive payment or reward.
Examples:
"My CD earns me six percent!"
-
Earn as a verb (transitive):
To achieve by being worthy of.
Examples:
"to earn a spot in the top 20"
-
Earn as a verb (UK, dialect, dated):
To curdle, as milk.
-
Earn as a verb (obsolete):
To long; to yearn.
-
Earn as a verb (obsolete):
To grieve.
-
Earn as a noun:
Examples:
"rfquotek Sir Walter Scott"
-
Steal as a verb (transitive):
To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else.
Examples:
"Three irreplaceable paintings were stolen from the gallery."
-
Steal as a verb (transitive, of ideas, words, music, a look, credit, etc.):
To appropriate without giving credit or acknowledgement.
Examples:
"They stole my idea for a biodegradable, disposable garbage de-odorizer."
-
Steal as a verb (transitive):
To get or effect surreptitiously or artfully.
Examples:
"He stole glances at the pretty woman across the street."
-
Steal as a verb (transitive, colloquial):
To acquire at a low price.
Examples:
"He stole the car for two thousand less than its book value."
-
Steal as a verb (transitive):
To draw attention unexpectedly in (an entertainment), especially by being the outstanding performer. Usually used in the phrase steal the show.
-
Steal as a verb (intransitive):
To move silently or secretly.
Examples:
"He stole across the room, trying not to wake her."
-
Steal as a verb:
To withdraw or convey (oneself) clandestinely.
-
Steal as a verb (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.
-
Steal as a verb (sports, transitive):
To dispossess
-
Steal as a verb (humorous, transitive):
To acquire; to get
Examples:
"Hold on, I need to steal a phone from the office. I'll be back real quick."
-
Steal as a noun:
The act of stealing.
-
Steal as a noun:
A piece of merchandise available at a very attractive price.
Examples:
"At this price, this car is a steal."
-
Steal as a noun (basketball, ice hockey):
A situation in which a defensive player actively takes possession of the ball or puck from the opponent's team.
-
Steal as a noun (baseball):
A stolen base.
-
Steal as a noun (curling):
Scoring in an end without the hammer.
-
Steal as a noun (computing):
A policy in database systems that a database follows which allows a transaction to be written on nonvolatile storage before its commit occurs.