pirate

noun

pi·rate | \ ˈpī-rət

Definition of pirate

(Entry 1 of 2)

: one who commits or practices piracy

pirate

verb

pirated; pirating

Definition of pirate (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1 : to commit piracy on

2 : to take or appropriate by piracy: such as

a : to reproduce without authorization especially in infringement of copyright

b : to lure away from another employer by offers of betterment

intransitive verb

: to commit or practice piracy

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Other Words from pirate

Noun

piratical \ pə-ˈra-ti-kəl ,

pī- \ adjective

piratically \ pə-ˈra-ti-k(ə-)lē ,

pī- \ adverb

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

Bonnet stole Claire’s wedding ring in the Season 4 premiere, and when Brianna met him in last week’s episode and attempted to pay for the ring’s return, the pirate attacked her. — Julie Kosin, Harper's BAZAAR, "Caitriona Balfe Is Evolving with Outlander," 31 Dec. 2018 Police in one city team with Amazon to set up doorbell cameras and decoy packages to catch porch pirates. — David Porter, The Seattle Times, "Sting uses fake Amazon boxes, GPS to catch would-be thieves," 12 Dec. 2018 In April, four boats were taken over by pirates off the coast of Guyana, which borders Venezuela on South America's northeastern shore. — Jameelah Nasheed, Teen Vogue, "Pirates Have Returned to the Caribbean Off the Coast of Venezuela," 13 Aug. 2018 On at least one occasion, John Paul Ryan identified himself as Edward Teach, the real name of Blackbeard the pirate, the complaint alleges. — Robert Moran, Philly.com, "Feds say Bucks couple ran prison textbook scam," 26 June 2018 The new scene will instead show pirates selling off the possessions of the townsfolk. — Hugo Martin, latimes.com, "High-tech Kung Fu Panda attraction to replace Universal Studios' Shrek adventure," 17 Apr. 2018 The thefts cause so much frustration that one man created an audio device to deter potential porch pirates by tricking them into thinking they are being shot at. — Lynh Bui, Washington Post, "Two teenagers arrested in thefts of more than 30 packages from Maryland porches," 5 Jan. 2018 The man is Stephen Bonnet, the pirate who robbed her parents. — Outlander Fan, Marie Claire, "5 Biggest Takeaways From 'Outlander' Season 4 Episode 8," 24 Dec. 2018 Historian Stephen O’Neill relates tales of regional pirates such as Captain Thomas Tew of Rhode Island and pivotal events like the arrest of Captain William Kidd in Boston. — BostonGlobe.com, "Outdoor sculpture, concerts, and pirates," 13 July 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

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. 2018 Set in the year 2144, Autonomous follows Jack, a rogue scientist who pirates life-saving drugs for people who can’t afford them. — Tiffany Kelly, Popular Mechanics, "The 13 Best Science Fiction Books of 2017," 29 Dec. 2017 About 70% of the software in use in China, for example, is pirated. — James Bacchus, WSJ, "How to Take On China Without Starting a Trade War," 16 Aug. 2017

These 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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Statistics for pirate

Last Updated

18 Jan 2019

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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)

: someone who attacks and steals from a ship at sea

: someone who illegally copies a product or invention without permission

: a person or organization that illegally makes television or radio broadcasts

pirate

verb

English Language Learners Definition of pirate (Entry 2 of 2)

: to illegally copy (something) without permission

See the full definition for pirate in the English Language Learners Dictionary

pirate

noun

pi·rate | \ ˈpī-rət

Kids Definition of pirate

: a robber of ships at sea : a person who commits piracy

pirate

noun

pi·rate | \ ˈpī-rət

Legal Definition of pirate

(Entry 1 of 2)

: a person who commits piracy

pirate

verb

pirated; pirating

Legal Definition of pirate (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

: to take or appropriate by piracy especially : to copy, distribute, or use without authorization especially in infringement of copyright the pirated software pirating cable signals

intransitive verb

: to commit piracy — compare bootleg