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
Synonyms
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
From Reuters, CNN, 14 Apr. 2024
Kayak or paddleboard on the Pamlico River, post up on a pier to reel in fresh and saltwater fish, and meander down the Palmetto Boardwalk and the nature trails of Goose Creek State Park (whose marshes and bogs were once preferred hiding spots for the pirate Blackbeard).
—Anne Olivia Bauso, Travel + Leisure, 11 Apr. 2024
All his creations proudly display pirate flags at the stern, which is one of the designer’s signatures.
—Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 8 Apr. 2024
Mejia has been using TikTok to call attention to porch pirates.
—Chris Eberhart, Fox News, 5 Apr. 2024
Arthur and his pirates (I tomaroli) and the rapacious dealer are amoral, grasping their spoils (an apotropaic phallic amulet, Asko pottery, and a Greek kylix cup once used in formal symposia) and only interested in plunder.
—Armond White, National Review, 3 Apr. 2024
Chicken: Costco: A pirate might say [rotisserie] me timbers.
—Kimberly Cataudella Tutuska, Miami Herald, 3 Apr. 2024
The couple appeared to enjoy some special one-on-one time with Olympia as the three of them dressed up as pirates.
—Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 3 Apr. 2024
The pirate would enjoy the moment before deciding his fate.
—Sean Kingsley, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Apr. 2024
Hannah Giorgis, The Atlantic, 12 Apr. 2024
He was fined once for powerboat speeding in a manatee zone, and once for pirating cable television signals.
—Robert D. McFadden, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2024
They’ve been used for years by record labels and movie studios that want to be able to protect their content from being pirated.
—Gerrit De Vynck, Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2024
Public perception is that streaming came along and gave people the option to not pirate, but that’s not entirely the case.
—Angela Watercutter, WIRED, 26 Jan. 2024
Bezos sells, Buffett buys, Amazon gets sued, Disney gets pirated: Business news roundup
Plus, a Taco Bell competitor is catching up, SpaceX loses orbit, and more of our most popular stories of the week
Start Slideshow
Jeff Bezos keeps selling Amazon stock.
—Quartz Staff, Quartz, 17 Feb. 2024
On TikTok’s, the platform will have to step up its moderation efforts to prevent its users from pirating UMG songs now that one of the world’s largest music companies will be breathing down its neck.
—Jess Weatherbed, The Verge, 5 Feb. 2024
Plaintiffs do not have any other reasonable way to prove that Defendant's subscriber pirated Expendables because the data provider that provided the evidence did not track this film.
—Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica, 7 July 2023
Back in 2016, albums like Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Frank Ocean’s Blonde would be released as exclusives on Tidal or Apple Music and then get pirated by folks who didn’t use those services.
—Angela Watercutter, WIRED, 1 Feb. 2024
Noun
Somali pirates caused chaos in the waters off the country’s long coastline from about 2008 to 2018.
—From Reuters, CNN, 14 Apr. 2024
Kayak or paddleboard on the Pamlico River, post up on a pier to reel in fresh and saltwater fish, and meander down the Palmetto Boardwalk and the nature trails of Goose Creek State Park (whose marshes and bogs were once preferred hiding spots for the pirate Blackbeard).
—Anne Olivia Bauso, Travel + Leisure, 11 Apr. 2024
All his creations proudly display pirate flags at the stern, which is one of the designer’s signatures.
—Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 8 Apr. 2024
Mejia has been using TikTok to call attention to porch pirates.
—Chris Eberhart, Fox News, 5 Apr. 2024
Arthur and his pirates (I tomaroli) and the rapacious dealer are amoral, grasping their spoils (an apotropaic phallic amulet, Asko pottery, and a Greek kylix cup once used in formal symposia) and only interested in plunder.
—Armond White, National Review, 3 Apr. 2024
Chicken: Costco: A pirate might say [rotisserie] me timbers.
—Kimberly Cataudella Tutuska, Miami Herald, 3 Apr. 2024
The couple appeared to enjoy some special one-on-one time with Olympia as the three of them dressed up as pirates.
—Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 3 Apr. 2024
The pirate would enjoy the moment before deciding his fate.
—Sean Kingsley, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Apr. 2024
Verb
Many of the BBSes were standard tech-nerd fare—chats where users would discuss pirating software or gossip about buzzy new product releases.
—Hannah Giorgis, The Atlantic, 12 Apr. 2024
He was fined once for powerboat speeding in a manatee zone, and once for pirating cable television signals.
—Robert D. McFadden, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2024
They’ve been used for years by record labels and movie studios that want to be able to protect their content from being pirated.
—Gerrit De Vynck, Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2024
Public perception is that streaming came along and gave people the option to not pirate, but that’s not entirely the case.
—Angela Watercutter, WIRED, 26 Jan. 2024
Bezos sells, Buffett buys, Amazon gets sued, Disney gets pirated: Business news roundup
Plus, a Taco Bell competitor is catching up, SpaceX loses orbit, and more of our most popular stories of the week
Start Slideshow
Jeff Bezos keeps selling Amazon stock.
—Quartz Staff, Quartz, 17 Feb. 2024
On TikTok’s, the platform will have to step up its moderation efforts to prevent its users from pirating UMG songs now that one of the world’s largest music companies will be breathing down its neck.
—Jess Weatherbed, The Verge, 5 Feb. 2024
Plaintiffs do not have any other reasonable way to prove that Defendant's subscriber pirated Expendables because the data provider that provided the evidence did not track this film.
—Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica, 7 July 2023
Back in 2016, albums like Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Frank Ocean’s Blonde would be released as exclusives on Tidal or Apple Music and then get pirated by folks who didn’t use those services.
—Angela Watercutter, WIRED, 1 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pirate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Pirate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pirate. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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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