pirate

noun

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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

Other Words from pirate Synonyms Example Sentences Learn More about pirate

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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 Sporting a bushy beard, a corncob pipe, and a face riddled with pocks and crags, Wake looks like a cross between Captain Birdseye and Trotsky and sounds like a cartoon pirate. — David Sims, The Atlantic, "The Lighthouse Takes You to the Hellish Ends of the Earth," 18 Oct. 2019 In 2003, the Recording Industry Association of America filed 261 lawsuits against pirates for allegedly sharing songs over P2P networks—with some misfires. — Cecilia D'anastasio, Wired, "Patreon Can't Solve Its Porn Pirate Problem," 24 Jan. 2020 Due to their location near trade routes, the islands almost immediately became a haven for pirates looking to attack merchant ships traveling to and from the Spanish Empire. — Popular Science, "Even with international protections, the Galápagos Islands are becoming more vulnerable to humans," 21 Jan. 2020 Leach gets a lot of attention for his news conferences, where he has been known to dole out wedding advice, once pondered which Pac-12 mascots would survive a fight and told tales about his passion for pirates. — Mark Heim | Mheim@al.com, al, "Mike Leach wins presser reminiscing about Mississippi State having worst visitor’s locker room ever," 10 Jan. 2020 Johanna Lindsey, whose best-selling romance novels told stories of unbridled passion, revenge, submission and abductions among aristocrats, debutantes, pirates and fearless heroines, died on Oct. 27 in Nashua, N.H., her family recently announced. — Richard Sandomir, New York Times, "Johanna Lindsey, Best-Selling Romance Novelist, Dies at 67," 23 Dec. 2019 The labels and their publishing entities filed the lawsuit in July 2018, accusing the cable and internet service provider of turning a blind eye to pirates on its network. — Chris Eggertsen, Billboard, "Labels & Publishers Win $1 Billion Piracy Lawsuit Against Cox Communications," 19 Dec. 2019 The result, brightly stuffed with pirates and vikings and glitter-winged creatures at every turn, will no doubt please very young viewers. — Guy Lodge, chicagotribune.com, "‘Playmobil: The Movie’ review: Toy-based toon doesn’t deliver," 5 Dec. 2019 Chasing pirates and training Malian soldiers is one thing. — The Economist, "Charlemagne Europe needs to defend itself better, but cannot do without America," 21 Nov. 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb In some areas, such as entertainment, technology, and pharmaceuticals, foreign companies looked on helplessly as their products were pirated and their copyrights breached. — John Cassidy, The New Yorker, "The Uneasy Truce of Trump’s Trade Deal with China," 16 Jan. 2020 But can watching bootlegged or pirated video on the internet get viewers into trouble, too? — Dalvin Brown, USA TODAY, "Is streaming video from sketchy websites illegal?," 16 Dec. 2019 And, as anybody who’s pirated content knows, keeping the lid on software is virtually impossible. — Matthew De Silva, Quartz, "What use are crypto collectibles?," 21 Nov. 2019 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

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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Last Updated

15 Feb 2020

Cite this Entry

“Pirate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pirate. Accessed 17 Feb. 2020.

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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

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