pirate
noun
\
Definition of pirate
(Entry 1 of 2)
pirate
verbDefinition of pirate (Entry 2 of 2)
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Other Words from pirate
Noun
, pī- \
adjective
, pī- \
adverb
Synonyms for pirate
Synonyms: Noun
buccaneer, corsair, freebooter, rover
Synonyms: Verb
appropriate, arrogate, commandeer, convert, expropriate, preempt, press, seize, take over, usurp
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Examples of pirate in a Sentence
Noun
the famous pirate Jean Lafitte A software pirate made bootleg copies of the computer program.Verb
He was accused of pirating their invention. using pirated software that was subject to copyright
Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
Sports media’s newest battle pits spies against pirates. — Jacob Feldman, SI.com, "Massive La Liga Fine Just the Beginning of Sports Media’s Newest Battle," 14 June 2019 Fly the Jolly Roger flag when pirates take the city of Havre de Grace on Saturday at the Susquehanna Museum at the Lock House, 410-939-5780. — Ron Browning, baltimoresun.com, "Havre de Grace: Pirate Fest at the Lock House on Saturday," 14 June 2019 Seven Seas Park: A small splash and play area, with several water spouts and dump buckets, is part of this pirate-themed park. — Lisa Herendeen, The Mercury News, "16 Splash Pads in the SF Bay Area keep kids cool," 12 June 2019 Meanwhile, live pirates / actors have been tossed into Pirates of the Caribbean again. — Dewayne Bevil, orlandosentinel.com, "Disney World: Villains After Hours event spotlights the dark side," 11 June 2019 During the 1850s, American filibusters—the Spanish word for pirates—attempted to conquer Cuba, Northern Mexico and Central America. — Adam Rowe, WSJ, "‘William Walker’s Wars’ Review: A Man in Search of an Empire," 9 June 2019 But the 1619 commemorations almost obscure one important fact: long before English pirates on two ships deposited these new arrivals from modern day Angola in Point Comfort, Virginia, Africans already had a presence in the Americas. — Lekan Oguntoyinbo, Quartz Africa, "The 1619 anniversary of Africans in the United States is significant but not the whole story," 6 June 2019 More than 300 years ago, Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, whose whiskered visage virtually defines the image of the 18th century pirate, ran his flagship aground near Beaufort, N.C. — David G. Savage, latimes.com, "With Blackbeard’s ship, an argument about 21st century piracy lands in Supreme Court," 3 June 2019 The new Tangled Shore patrol zone, where the campaign takes place, has a hardscrabble pirate vibe to it that's very cool. — Aaron Zimmerman, Ars Technica, "Destiny 2: Forsaken review: Hallelujah, Destiny’s back," 19 Sep. 2018Recent Examples on the Web: Verb
In an ironic twist, though, the makers of that firmware have introduced anti-piracy code to prevent people from pirating their own work. — Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, "Switch pirates don’t want you to pirate their piracy-enabling firmware," 28 June 2018 These include opening up more Chinese sectors to foreign investment, punishing companies that pirate foreign technology and lowering import tariffs on high-tech goods. — Doug Cameron, WSJ, "How the U.S. Can Protect Corporate America’s Tech Secrets From China," 10 Jan. 2019 Online, more than 800,000 people paid to watch it for $10 a stream — a respectable number, even with the million or so people who pirated the fight on Twitch. — Megan Farokhmanesh, The Verge, "Logan Paul’s redemption arc is proceeding exactly as planned," 29 Aug. 2018 This year, Sony, which owns World Cup broadcast rights in India, has already issued a warning to potential streaming sites that may try and pirate 2018 matches. — Kurt Wagner, Recode, "World Cup’s soccer highlights will put social media’s copyright tools to the test," 15 June 2018 FlightSimLab owner Lefteris Kalamaras actually confirmed that this was the case in a forum post, but asserted that this functionality was only turned against users running software that the company has deemed to be pirated. — Eric Limer, Popular Mechanics, "Flight Simulator Software Packed in Password-Stealing Malware to Battle Piracy," 20 Feb. 2018 SurfSafe will also help users to identify whether an image was pirated from another site and flag visuals that have been photoshopped. — Rachel Gutman, The Atlantic, "A Web Tool That Lets People Choose Their Own ‘Sources of Truth’," 29 June 2018 The lawsuit against Dragon Media says the box and the software provided by Dragon Media greatly simplify the process of viewing pirated video. — Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica, "“Free TV” box lawyer says video industry is “digging its own grave”," 17 Jan. 2018 The photos are childhood snapshots of Ms. Perry and her twin brother, Sandy, who was one of the N.C.A.A. basketball players whose likenesses were pirated, just a few years ago, by the video game company E.A. Sports. — Martha Schwendener, Jason Farago And Will Heinrich, New York Times, "What to See in New York Art Galleries This Week," 24 Jan. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pirate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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From the Editors at Merriam-Webster
11 Obscure Words for Thieves
11 Obscure Words for Thieves
Yeggs, jackrollers, footpads, and more
Statistics for pirate
Last Updated
21 Jun 2019
Look-up Popularity
Time Traveler for pirate
The first known use of pirate was in the 14th century
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More Definitions for pirate
pirate
noun
English Language Learners Definition of pirate
(Entry 1 of 2)
pirate
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of pirate (Entry 2 of 2)
See the full definition for pirate in the English Language Learners Dictionary
pirate
noun
\
Kids Definition of pirate
pirate
noun
\
Legal Definition of pirate
(Entry 1 of 2)
pirate
verbLegal Definition of pirate (Entry 2 of 2)
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