as in piracy
the act or pursuit of robbing ships at sea
officially sanctioned pirating used to be common among warring nations
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in seizing
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 pirating
ArsTechnica,
22 May 2026
But, the pirating is essentially stopped.
—
Isabella Murray,
ABC News,
29 Jan. 2026
ArsTechnica,
11 May 2026
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
Anthropic has already been in the hot seat for getting caught pirating millions of digital copies of books.
—
James Folta,
Literary Hub,
6 Feb. 2026
Partida later discovered another neighbor's video showing a man wearing the same hat stealing another package — raising concerns about a possible porch-pirating spree.
—
Amelia Mugavero,
CBS News,
5 Dec. 2025
The discovery ruling bolsters what’s increasingly looking like a winning argument over the practice of pirating books from shadow libraries.
—
Winston Cho,
HollywoodReporter,
26 Nov. 2025
When pirating hindered the shipping of gold to Lisbon, Paraty pivoted to farming sugarcane (the basis of cachaça) and later became one of the earliest hubs for coffee growing in a country that is still the globe’s largest exporter of beans.
—
David Amsden,
Travel + Leisure,
5 Nov. 2025
Downtown Street Teams was founded in Palo Alto in 2005 by Eileen Richardson, a venture capitalist and former chief executive of Napster, a digital platform once known for pirating music that’s since become a streaming service.
—
Ethan Varian,
Mercury News,
9 Sep. 2025
Noun
No drugs were found, but Simpson’s home address had also come up during the investigation as one potentially linked to the purchase of satellite TV pirating equipment.
—
ArsTechnica,
22 May 2026
But, the pirating is essentially stopped.
—
Isabella Murray,
ABC News,
29 Jan. 2026
Verb
Cox won’t help defendants beat allegations of direct copyright infringement, those claims in which the company itself is accused of pirating.
—
ArsTechnica,
11 May 2026
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
Anthropic has already been in the hot seat for getting caught pirating millions of digital copies of books.
—
James Folta,
Literary Hub,
6 Feb. 2026
Partida later discovered another neighbor's video showing a man wearing the same hat stealing another package — raising concerns about a possible porch-pirating spree.
—
Amelia Mugavero,
CBS News,
5 Dec. 2025
The discovery ruling bolsters what’s increasingly looking like a winning argument over the practice of pirating books from shadow libraries.
—
Winston Cho,
HollywoodReporter,
26 Nov. 2025
When pirating hindered the shipping of gold to Lisbon, Paraty pivoted to farming sugarcane (the basis of cachaça) and later became one of the earliest hubs for coffee growing in a country that is still the globe’s largest exporter of beans.
—
David Amsden,
Travel + Leisure,
5 Nov. 2025
Downtown Street Teams was founded in Palo Alto in 2005 by Eileen Richardson, a venture capitalist and former chief executive of Napster, a digital platform once known for pirating music that’s since become a streaming service.
—
Ethan Varian,
Mercury News,
9 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pirating
Noun
-
After that, the Memorandum of Understanding invites Iran to commit piracy by charging ships to transit the strait.
-
The park is also one of several spots in both the Inner and Outer Banks where Blackbeard was known to roam during his heyday of piracy.
Verb
-
Authorities served a search warrant at the rescue on May 1, seizing electronics, business records, financial records, firearms, and other evidence, according to the sheriff.
-
For leadership teams worldwide, this requires striking a careful balance between responding to immediate disruption and seizing arising opportunities to bolster growth.
Verb
-
In December 1922, two Black men were abducted from the Pilot Point jail after being accused of stealing horses.
-
Wolfson and her friends would try the stunts at home, stealing shopping carts to push each other into curbs.
Verb
-
In some videos, survivors accused soldiers of looting apartments and confiscating donated supplies—claims that remain difficult to independently verify but have fueled widespread outrage.
-
Amid anecdotal reports that airport security services have been confiscating bottles of ranch dressing that sports tourists have tried to smuggle out of the country, Kraft Heinz came up with a TSA-friendly size of ranch dressing.
Verb
-
Japan's Daizen Maeda broke through in the 59th minute, converting feeds from teammates Ayase Ueda and Ritsu Doan.
-
Its focus is on converting and owning the datasets, Manish Agarwal, co-founder of Humyn Labs, told CNBC.
Verb
-
The video then shows the woman throwing Martinez to the ground, grabbing her by the hair and repeatedly attacking her as bystanders try to step in and help.
-
According to Sangrio, the video appears to show Matthew Cox, O'Toole's then-attendant, striking the 60-year-old with a broom, punching him and grabbing him by the neck.
Verb
-
The deadline to apply for a $50 million settlement from The Walt Disney Company, linked to a class action case claiming the company helped drive up subscription prices for streaming platforms, is approaching.
-
Jackson beat out fellow finalists Roch Cholowsky (UCLA) and Landon Hairston (Arizona State), to become the second Georgia player to win the award in three seasons, with Charlie Condon claiming it in 2024.
Cite this Entry
“Pirating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pirating. Accessed 4 Jul. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
