as in buccaneer
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
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as in to seize
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
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Recent Examples of pirate
Lee Marshall, Travel + Leisure, 15 Apr. 2025
Exhibits also cover pirates and the natural history of the area.
missilesandmoremuseum.org, 720 Channel Blvd., Topsail Beach, NC 28445; 910-328-8663
Play A Game Of Mini-Golf
No family beach trip is complete without a round of mini-golf.
—Grace Haynes, Southern Living, 12 Apr. 2025
Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
The situation marks the first time in the festival’s four years of screening films online that pirated copies and clips have ended up online.
—Chris Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pirate
Noun
Pretty much the entire town goes full Jack Sparrow, dressing up in pirate costumes and waving wooden swords to commemorate and exorcise the trauma of a time when attacks by the formidable Hayreddin Barbarossa, a.k.a.
—Lee Marshall, Travel + Leisure, 15 Apr. 2025
Exhibits also cover pirates and the natural history of the area.
missilesandmoremuseum.org, 720 Channel Blvd., Topsail Beach, NC 28445; 910-328-8663
Play A Game Of Mini-Golf
No family beach trip is complete without a round of mini-golf.
—Grace Haynes, Southern Living, 12 Apr. 2025
Verb
But countries do not all pirate the same content.
—Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
The situation marks the first time in the festival’s four years of screening films online that pirated copies and clips have ended up online.
—Chris Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pirate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pirate
Noun
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But their populations plummeted in the 18th and 19th centuries, as buccaneers and whalers nabbed tortoises for meat and oil.—
Sarah Kuta,
Smithsonian Magazine,
4 Apr. 2025
-
Which is not to say that Skeleton Crew, in success, couldn’t ever feature the interstellar buccaneer.—
Matt Webb Mitovich,
TVLine,
15 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Attackers could seize on the pattern by identifying nonexistent packages that are repeatedly hallucinated.—
Dan Goodin,
ArsTechnica,
29 Apr. 2025
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Officials seized less than 50 pounds of fentanyl along the U.S. northern border in the 2024 fiscal year, according to the AP, citing U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) data.—
Mohammed Soliman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
29 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
The Pantera even saw competition by privateer teams in Group 3, 4, and 5 racing, with largely unsuccessful results.—
Robert Ross,
Robb Report,
17 Jan. 2025
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Riding a Yamaha as a privateer, Laninovich made two main events last season to become the oldest starter in Supercross history at the age of 40.—
Bill Center,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
17 Jan. 2025
Verb
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The return would be enough to steal Abbott from the Reds.—
Ross Rosenfeld,
MSNBC Newsweek,
23 Apr. 2025
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The Pacers will return home for Games 5 and 7 (if necessary), which means the Bucks would need to steal two road wins to advance.—
Bryan Toporek,
Forbes.com,
23 Apr. 2025
Noun
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After Columbus’s first footfall in the New World, Cuba fell prey to every manner of European freebooter.—
Jon Lee Anderson,
Foreign Affairs,
14 Dec. 2021
-
There is widespread, cross-partisan public support for finally clamping down on these corporate freebooters.—
Prem Thakker,
The New Republic,
23 Feb. 2023
Verb
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The pair collaborated on searching freight shipments, storage units and vehicles to confiscate drugs, targeting marijuana in particular because it was stored locally rather than sent to the DEA, according to officials.—
Olivia Lloyd,
Miami Herald,
21 Apr. 2025
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Some of them have taken advantage of the departure of foreign and multinational corporations from Russia by buying depreciated assets or simply confiscating them, generally with the support of powerful insiders, such as the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.—
ALEXANDER GABUEV,
Foreign Affairs,
17 Apr. 2025
Noun
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In 1544, Barbarossa, a corsair who had risen to become admiral of the Ottoman navy, raided the island and carried away into slavery almost a thousand inhabitants—practically the island’s entire population.—
Lee Marshall,
Travel + Leisure,
15 Apr. 2025
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Freed from a Mediterranean Sea crowded with Ottoman fleets and North African corsairs, the Atlantic upstarts unleashed themselves on the world’s oceans.—
Jeremy Adelman,
Foreign Affairs,
20 Apr. 2015
Verb
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The game ended appropriately with Minnesota’s Naz Reid grabbing an offensive rebound off a Timberwolves missed free throw attempt and hugging the ball like Minnesota hugged this victory.—
Bill Plaschke,
Los Angeles Times,
1 May 2025
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Decker was walking and pushing his bike when Nelson grabbed his backpack and attempted to detain him.—
Alex Brizee,
Idaho Statesman,
1 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pirate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pirate. Accessed 6 May. 2025.
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