buccaneer
noun
buc·ca·neer
ˌbə-kə-ˈnir 
1
: any of the freebooters preying on Spanish ships and settlements especially in 17th century West Indies
broadly
: pirate
2
: an unscrupulous adventurer especially in politics or business
buccaneer
intransitive verb
Examples of buccaneer in a Sentence
buccaneers preyed upon treasure-laden ships in the Caribbean for nearly three hundred years
Recent Examples on the Web
The conference curated a world of coming wonders for several hundred C-suite buccaneers who had paid up to fifty thousand dollars apiece to update their mental models and investment portfolios.
—
Tad Friend, New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2025
Over on the fall/winter 2025 runways, Ralph Lauren and Zimmermann took a more subtle approach via elegant knee-high leather boots with buccaneer buckle detailing and a slight scrunch.
—Emma Spedding, Vogue, 24 July 2025
Guests may spot Rummy greeting buccaneers from his perch along the bar.
—Megan Dubois, Southern Living, 14 July 2025
The buyout buccaneers of the 1980s were their own clients, bootstrapping their corporate takeovers until their sky-high returns lured in outside money.
—Liz Hoffman, semafor.com, 19 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for buccaneer
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Tad Friend, New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2025
Over on the fall/winter 2025 runways, Ralph Lauren and Zimmermann took a more subtle approach via elegant knee-high leather boots with buccaneer buckle detailing and a slight scrunch.
—Emma Spedding, Vogue, 24 July 2025
Guests may spot Rummy greeting buccaneers from his perch along the bar.
—Megan Dubois, Southern Living, 14 July 2025
The buyout buccaneers of the 1980s were their own clients, bootstrapping their corporate takeovers until their sky-high returns lured in outside money.
—Liz Hoffman, semafor.com, 19 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for buccaneer
Cite this Entry
“Buccaneer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/buccaneer. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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buccaneer
noun
buc·ca·neer
ˌbək-ə-ˈni(ə)r
Etymology
from French boucanier "hunter who smokes meat over a grill"
Word Origin
In the 17th century Frenchmen living off the land in the West Indies were known as boucaniers because they preserved meat by smoking it over a wooden grill. The grill was called a boucan, after the Brazilian Indigenous name for it. When some of these men took to the sea as pirates, the word boucanier continued to be applied to them, and was borrowed into English as buccaneer.
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