pirate

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B1 — Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun someone who uses another person's words or ideas as if they were his own
  2. noun someone who robs at sea or plunders the land from the sea without having a commission from any sovereign nation
  3. noun a ship that is manned by pirates

Etymology

From Middle English pirate, pirat, pyrat, from Old French pirate, from Latin pīrāta (“pirate”), from Ancient Greek πειρατής (peiratḗs), from πεῖρα (peîra, “trial, attempt, plot”). Displaced native Old English wīċing, which was the word for both "pirate" and "viking".

In classic literature

Synonyms

plagiarist, plagiarizer, plagiariser, literary pirate

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