noun
pirate
PEYE-ruht
noun
1
Someone who attacks and robs ships at sea.
"The film follows a crew of pirates hunting for buried treasure."
2
Someone who illegally copies or distributes copyrighted material.
"The site was shut down for hosting pirates who uploaded whole films."
verb
1
To copy or distribute copyrighted material without permission.
"Thousands of fans pirated the album before its official release."
"It's illegal to pirate software for commercial use."
How to Use Pirate
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA sea robber, or (as a verb) to illegally copy and share protected content.
Common pairings
pirate ship
pirate a movie
software pirate
Word Forms
pirated past tense, pirates plural, Pirates plural, pirates singular
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Etymology
From Old French pirate, from Latin pirata, from Greek peiratēs, related to peira ("attempt, trial"). It replaced the native Old English word wicing, which originally covered both "pirate" and "viking".