prowler
Americannoun
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a person or animal that prowls.
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a person who goes stealthily about with some unlawful intention, as to commit a burglary or theft.
Etymology
Origin of prowler
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A grand jury exonerated her of murder, accepting her explanation that she’d mistaken Billy for a prowler who had been frequenting the area, sometimes raiding homeowners’ fridges.
From New York Times • Oct. 30, 2022
For now, I can only turn up the volume on my security-cam alerts, enduring the false alarms triggered by wildlife but ensuring that I’ll be awake should the prowler return.
From Washington Post • Jul. 19, 2022
A couple in Monte Nido that night reported a prowler in their backyard.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 17, 2022
During the incident, Troyer, who is white, said he mistook the carrier, 24-year-old Sedrick Altheimer, for a prowler and called a police-only emergency dispatch hotline to report that Altheimer was threatening to kill him.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 26, 2021
It occurred to me I might he mistaken for a prowler, so I walked around the block.
From "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
