pirates 1 of 2

noun

plural of pirate
as in buccaneers
someone who engages in robbery of ships at sea Sir Francis Drake was a British pirate who preyed on Spanish ships with the connivance of Elizabeth I

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pirates

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of pirate
as in seizes
to take or make use of under a guise of authority but without actual right using pirated software that was subject to copyright

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of pirates
Noun
Speaking of singing pirates, Curry clearly fancied these kinds of roles, signing on to play the villainous Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island (1996), Brian Henson’s musical adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel. — ArsTechnica, 26 Aug. 2026 That is up from Politico’s report that Somali pirates had seized at least three tankers carrying oil and fertilizer since April, while a chemical-carrying ship was hijacked off Yemen in July. — Joshua Hong, Fortune, 25 Aug. 2026 Though the pirates and villagers celebrate the defeat of Wapol, One Piece season 2 ends with Luffy agreeing to help Princess Vivi, whose homeland of Alabasta is the target of a dangerous plot hatched by Baroque Works. — Brianna Zigler, Entertainment Weekly, 24 Aug. 2026 Somali pirates accounted for 94% of crew members taken hostage during that period, the bureau said. — Omar Faruk, Los Angeles Times, 22 Aug. 2026 Internally at the studios, copyright divisions spend their energy targeting larger criminal operations enabling these digital pirates — the hives sharing and disseminating premium content. — Gene Maddaus, Variety, 21 Aug. 2026 Eight pirates, believed to be members of a group previously involved in the hijacking of the M/V Sward on April 26, took the vessel toward the coast near Garmaal in Puntland’s Dangoroyo district. — ABC News, 20 Aug. 2026 The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, which has been tracking the 2026 resurgence, recently said in a report that pirates demanded as much as $10 million for the release of the Eureka, which was seized on May 2. — Aparajita Saxena, CNBC, 20 Aug. 2026 White was briefly granted an exception, but pirates attacked that attempt, stealing his supplies and forcing him back to England. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pirates
  1. buccaneers
  2. seizes
  3. corsairs
  4. claims
  5. raiders
  6. steals
  7. confiscates
  8. converts
Noun
  • The conference curated a world of coming wonders for several hundred C-suite buccaneers who had paid up to fifty thousand dollars apiece to update their mental models and investment portfolios.
    — Tad Friend, New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2025
Definition of buccaneers
Verb
  • Obreht is a writer who doesn’t rush into easy patterns of storytelling but seizes control from the jump.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 13 Aug. 2026
  • Better, Cretton seizes small moments to put his stamp on this installment.
    — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 30 July 2026
Definition of seizes
Noun
  • Courtesy Luxury Living Costa Rica Three centuries before wealthy investors sought out trophy holdings along Costa Rica’s untamed Pacific coast, these shores were a theater of conquistadors, corsairs and cannon fire.
    — Donna Hardie-Scott, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026
  • After the Revolutionary War, the United States maintained no standing fleet, but attacks by the Barbary pirates—corsairs based in North Africa who preyed on American merchant ships and took sailors ransom—drove Congress to reestablish a navy in the 1790s.
    — David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 4 June 2026
Definition of corsairs
Verb
  • The Grammy winner claims Keren Urinov, who worked on her 2025 tour, demanded a 15-year employment contract.
    — Kathleen Perricone, Entertainment Weekly, 2 Sep. 2026
  • The company claims the approach could allow Galileo X to handle precise indoor transport, long-range off-road travel, and complex terrain using a unified robotic architecture and control system.
    — Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of claims
Noun
  • The preseason finale against the Atlanta Falcons is days away, roster cuts are next Sunday, and the season opener at the Las Vegas raiders is three weeks away.
    — Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel, 23 Aug. 2026
  • Though the tomb raiders have been arrested, the total number of robberies is still unclear.
    — Rylan DiGiacomo-Rapp, The Orlando Sentinel, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of raiders
Verb
  • Jealousy and entitlement steer the actions of middling white writer June Hayward, who brazenly steals the manuscript of her much more talented friend, Chinese-American author, Athena Liu, after being the sole witness to Athena’s death.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 2 Sep. 2026
  • And, if the wins keep piling up, San Dimas might need to put a fence around his classroom so no one steals him away.
    — Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of steals
Verb
  • Unlike most other states, California has its own inspection-and-approval system for fireworks, and confiscates those failing standards.
    — Trevor Hughes, USA Today, 30 June 2026
  • The children designated as Palestinians, meanwhile, have their drawings torn up and are relegated to small corners of the classroom while the teacher confiscates their candy.
    — Robert Schmad, The Washington Examiner, 26 Nov. 2025
Definition of confiscates
Verb
  • That converts execution from brittle screen-scraping into a clean engineering problem.
    — Oleg Nesterov, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2026
  • Munoz says experimenting with those videos and learning what converts viewers into customers helped turn social commerce into her biggest source of creator income.
    — Tatiana Sataua, Fortune, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of converts

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pirates
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Cite this Entry

“Pirates.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pirates. Accessed 3 Sep. 2026.

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