pirated; pirating
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
: to commit or practice piracy
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
Big Think, 25 Mar. 2026
The Orlando Boat Show also features a trout pond for young visitors, performances from Twiggy the Waterskiing Squirrel, a pirate magician and mermaid stilt walkers.
—Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 25 Mar. 2026
Maureen Groppe, USA Today, 25 Mar. 2026
As evidence, the music labels enlisted a third-party company to flag users found to be pirating content via peer-to-peer file-sharing protocols such as BitTorrent.
—Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 25 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for pirate
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Noun
Tim Brinkhof The Past Julius Caesar was once captured by pirates.
—Big Think, 25 Mar. 2026
The Orlando Boat Show also features a trout pond for young visitors, performances from Twiggy the Waterskiing Squirrel, a pirate magician and mermaid stilt walkers.
—Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 25 Mar. 2026
Verb
Sony lawyer argued Cox failed to act Paul Clement, the lawyer representing the music industry, countered that Cox is manufacturing a worst-case scenario after failing to take reasonable steps to respond to repeat offenders of peer-to-peer file sharing – the most common means of pirating music.
—Maureen Groppe, USA Today, 25 Mar. 2026
As evidence, the music labels enlisted a third-party company to flag users found to be pirating content via peer-to-peer file-sharing protocols such as BitTorrent.
—Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 25 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for pirate
Cite this Entry
“Pirate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pirate. Accessed 30 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
pirate
2 of 2 verb
pirated; pirating
: to take by piracy
pirate an invention
Legal Definition
pirate
1 of 2 noun
pi·rate
ˈpī-rət 
: a person who commits piracy
pirate
2 of 2 verb
pirated; pirating
: 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
: to commit piracy compare bootleg
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