plagiarize

verb

pla·​gia·​rize ˈplā-jə-ˌrīz 

 also  -jē-ə-

plagiarized; plagiarizing

transitive verb

: to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own : use (another's production) without crediting the source

intransitive verb

: to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

plagiarizer noun

Did you know?

The Kidnapping Roots of Plagiarize

If schools wish to impress upon their students how serious an offense plagiarism is, they might start with an explanation of the word’s history. Plagiarize (and plagiarism) comes from the Latin plagiarius “kidnapper.” This word, derived from the Latin plaga (“a net used by hunters to catch game”), extended its meaning in Latin to include a person who stole the words, rather than the children, of another. When plagiarius first entered English in the form plagiary, it kept its original reference to kidnapping, a sense that is now quite obsolete.

Examples of plagiarize in a Sentence

He plagiarized a classmate's report.

She plagiarized from an article she read on the Internet.

Recent Examples on the Web

Marathon cannot stop being thrown into fresh drama every few days since its controversial Closed Alpha which led to a string of reports about things going poorly internally, capped off by a revelation that an artist had plagiarized art currently still in the game. —Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 25 May 2025

And one commencement speaker—musician Evelyn Harris at Smith College—relinquished her honorary degree after admitting that parts of her speech were plagiarized. —Maria Gracia Santillana Linares, Forbes.com, 27 May 2025

Smith College did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request late Wednesday for more information about her speech and what the school says was plagiarized. —Anthony Robledo, USA Today, 23 May 2025

Baker filed a suit in 2022 alleging that Coates' The Water Dancer plagiarized content from his Shock Exchange: How Inner-City Kids From Brooklyn Predicted the Great Recession and the Pain Ahead. —Jenna Sundel, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

plagiary

First Known Use

1660, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for plagiarize

• advertise
• aggrandize
• agonize
• alibis
• alkalies
• alkalis
• amortize
• amplifies
• analyse
• analyze
• anywise
• authorize

Kids Definition

plagiarize

verb

pla·​gia·​rize ˈplā-jə-ˌrīz 

plagiarized; plagiarizing

: to steal and pass off (as the ideas or words of another) as one's own

plagiarized a classmate's homework

plagiarizer noun

Legal Definition

plagiarize

verb

pla·​gia·​rize ˈplā-jə-ˌrīz 

plagiarized; plagiarizing

transitive verb

: to copy and pass off (the expression of ideas or words of another) as one's own : use (another's work) without crediting the source

the book contained plagiarized material

—Smith v. Little, Brown & Co., 265 F. Supp. 451 (1965)

intransitive verb

: to present as new and original an idea or work derived from an existing source

plagiarism

-ˌri-zəm 

noun

plagiarist

-rist 

noun

Etymology

from plagiary plagiarist, from Latin plagiarius, literally, kidnapper, from plagium netting of game, kidnapping, from plaga net