You steal a thing, but you rob a person or place. Someone stole her bike takes the object as the focus, while she was robbed of her purse puts the victim first, often implying force or threat. Rob can also mean unfairly depriving someone of something they deserve.
The core difference
Steal focuses on the item taken; rob focuses on the person or place taken from, often with force.
- steal — take something without permission: He was caught trying to steal cash from the register.
- rob — take from a person or place unlawfully, often by force or threat: Two men tried to rob the corner shop at gunpoint.
How to tell them apart
The quickest test is what follows the verb. Steal takes the item taken as its object, as in steal a bike or steal cash. Rob takes the victim or place as its object, as in rob a shop or rob a person, which is why it is her purse was stolen but she was robbed, not the other way round.
Rob also carries a stronger sense of force or threat, which is why armed robbery uses rob rather than steal. Steal, meanwhile, stretches further than physical theft: it covers taking credit for someone else's idea, moving somewhere unnoticed, or even a genuine bargain, as in the laptop was an absolute steal.
