plagiarism
noun
Did you know?
Common Misspellings
plagarism, plagerism, plagirism
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 plagiarism in a Sentence
Richard Carranza, Forbes.com, 2 June 2025
The company started 2024 with a roughly $500 million valuation and ended it with a valuation of about $9 billion, after attracting increasing investor interest amid the generative AI boom — as well as controversy over plagiarism accusations.
—Hayden Field, CNBC, 24 Apr. 2025
This isn’t the first time Channel 4 has been caught up in a plagiarism row.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 2 Apr. 2025
Formatting, bibliography, plagiarism checks, and 3 revisions are included in this price.
—Rowan Briggs, Mercury News, 24 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for plagiarism
Cite this Entry
“Plagiarism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarism. Accessed 14 Jun. 2025.
Copy Citation
Share