Earn vs. Steal — What's the Difference?

Obtain (money) in return for labour or services

Take (another person's property) without permission or legal right and without intending to return it

To gain especially for the performance of service, labor, or work

Move somewhere quietly or surreptitiously

To acquire or deserve as a result of effort or action

A bargain

To yield as return or profit

An act of stealing something

(transitive) To gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work.

To take (the property of another) without right or permission.

(transitive) To receive payment for work.

To present or use (someone else's words or ideas) as one's own.

(intransitive) To receive payment for work.

To get or take secretly or artfully

(transitive) To cause (someone) to receive payment or reward.

To give or enjoy (a kiss) that is unexpected or unnoticed.

(transitive) To achieve by being worthy of.

To draw attention unexpectedly in (an entertainment), especially by being the outstanding performer

To curdle (milk), especially in the cheesemaking process.

(Baseball) To advance safely to (another base) during the delivery of a pitch, without the aid of a base hit, walk, passed ball, or wild pitch.

Of milk: to curdle, espcially in the cheesemaking process.

To steal another's property.

To strongly long or yearn (for something or to do something).

To move, happen, or elapse stealthily or unobtrusively

To grieve.

(Baseball) To steal a base.

To merit or deserve, as by labor or service; to do that which entitles one to (a reward, whether the reward is received or not).

The act of stealing.

To acquire by labor, service, or performance; to deserve and receive as compensation or wages; as, to earn a good living; to earn honors or laurels.

(Slang) A bargain.

To grieve.

(Baseball) A stolen base.

To long; to yearn.

(Basketball) An act of gaining possession of the ball from an opponent.

To curdle, as milk.

(transitive) To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else without intending to return it.

Earn on some commercial or business transaction; earn as salary or wages;

To appropriate without giving credit or acknowledgement.

Acquire or deserve by one's efforts or actions

(transitive) To get or effect surreptitiously or artfully.

To acquire at a low price.

(transitive) To draw attention unexpectedly in (an entertainment), especially by being the outstanding performer. Usually used in the phrase steal the show.

(intransitive) To move silently or secretly.

(transitive) To convey (something) clandestinely.

To withdraw or convey (oneself) clandestinely.

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.

To dispossess

To borrow for a short moment.

Take, plagiarize, tell on a joke, use a well-worded expression in one's own parlance or writing

The act of stealing.

(slang) A piece of merchandise available at a very low, attractive price.

A situation in which a defensive player actively takes possession of the ball or puck from the opponent's team.

(baseball) A stolen base.

(curling) Scoring in an end without the hammer.

(computing) A policy in database systems that a database follows which allows a transaction to be written on nonvolatile storage before its commit occurs.

A handle; a stale, or stele.

To take, and carry away, feloniously; to take without right or leave, and with intent to keep wrongfully; as, to steal the personal goods of another.

To withdraw or convey clandestinely (reflexive); hence, to creep furtively, or to insinuate.

To gain by insinuating arts or covert means.

To get into one's power gradually and by imperceptible degrees; to take possession of by a gradual and imperceptible appropriation; - with away.

To accomplish in a concealed or unobserved manner; to try to carry out secretly; as, to steal a look.

To practice, or be guilty of, theft; to commit larceny or theft.

To withdraw, or pass privily; to slip in, along, or away, unperceived; to go or come furtively.

An advantageous purchase;

A stolen base; an instance in which a base runner advances safely during the delivery of a pitch (without the help of a hit or walk or passed ball or wild pitch)

Take without the owner's consent;

Move stealthily;

Steal a base

To go stealthily or furtively;