as in buccaneer
someone who engages in robbery of ships at sea
Sir Francis Drake was a British pirate who preyed on Spanish ships with the connivance of Elizabeth I
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as in to seize
to take or make use of under a guise of authority but without actual right
using pirated software that was subject to copyright
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of pirate
Literary Hub, 9 Oct. 2025
But as the day sploshed on, Cam came to resemble more and more a windswept pirate on the cover of a romance novel.
—Caity Weaver, The Atlantic, 8 Oct. 2025
Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 5 Sep. 2025
The judge's order asserts that Anthropic pirated more than 7 million copies of books.
—Chloe Veltman, NPR, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pirate
Noun
In the Tatsuya Nagamine movie, Z is the name of an admiral who has sworn to destroy all the pirates of the New World, because of the pirates’ dream to have no leader, motivated only by their alliances that uphold the interests of every person and community.
—Literary Hub, 9 Oct. 2025
But as the day sploshed on, Cam came to resemble more and more a windswept pirate on the cover of a romance novel.
—Caity Weaver, The Atlantic, 8 Oct. 2025
Verb
Covering 500,000 works that Anthropic pirated for AI training, if a court approves the settlement, each author will receive $3,000 per work that Anthropic stole.
—Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 5 Sep. 2025
The judge's order asserts that Anthropic pirated more than 7 million copies of books.
—Chloe Veltman, NPR, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pirate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pirate
Noun
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Swashbucklers, scoundrels, bandits and buccaneers will soon be bellying up to the bar inside a lively new pirate pub at Walt Disney World that’s already booked solid for the first two months and promises to be a must-have reservation for visitors.—
Brady MacDonald,
Oc Register,
29 Aug. 2025
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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
Verb
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What’s more, after the Velvet Revolution of 1989, Czechs who had their property seized by the state were allowed to reclaim much of it through a restitution system – but not ethnic Germans who lost it under the post-war Benes decrees.—
Will Tizard,
Variety,
25 Oct. 2025
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As my daughter’s face paled, and a man in a clown mask stalked the aisles, panic seized my limbs.—
Christa Carmen,
PEOPLE,
25 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The ghost ship of Harpswell had been the privateer Dash, which had been lost at sea after compiling its remarkable record.—
Leanna Renee Hieber,
Big Think,
2 Oct. 2025
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Set in 1627, Salé will follow an Icelandic mother and daughter captured by Barbary privateers and sold into slavery in Morocco.—
Jesse Whittock,
Deadline,
2 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Multiple suspects have been arrested in connection with the brazen heist of crown jewels from the Louvre museum in Paris, a week after thieves stole millions of dollars worth of historic jewelry, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.—
Karissa Waddick,
USA Today,
26 Oct. 2025
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Marchenko kept the heat on by stealing a page from Johnson’s book of tricks, sliding it through Silovs’ pads.—
Aaron Portzline,
New York Times,
26 Oct. 2025
Noun
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There is widespread, cross-partisan public support for finally clamping down on these corporate freebooters.—
Prem Thakker,
The New Republic,
23 Feb. 2023
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After Columbus’s first footfall in the New World, Cuba fell prey to every manner of European freebooter.—
Jon Lee Anderson,
Foreign Affairs,
14 Dec. 2021
Verb
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The sweeping opinion ran through a list of Israeli practices that the ICJ said violated international law, including confiscating land, building Israeli settlements in the territories, and depriving Palestinians of natural resources and the right to self-determination.—
Lauren Kent,
CNN Money,
22 Oct. 2025
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Victoria discussed payment, methods, and timing in messages discovered on a phone that was eventually confiscated from Amato by security guards.—
Ryan Coleman,
Entertainment Weekly,
22 Oct. 2025
Noun
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If peaceable trading isn't your dream, consider the corsair life, pillaging other ships for their precious cargo.—
Alan Bradley,
Space.com,
7 Oct. 2025
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Set in 1492, the series follows Sara, the defiant daughter of Granada’s chief Rabbi, exiled during Spain’s expulsion of its Jewish population and captured by Ottoman corsairs (‘Korsan’ in Turkish).—
Ben Croll,
Variety,
29 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The Asian restaurant joins what has become an increasingly attractive section of Meridian for grabbing food.—
Michael Deeds,
Idaho Statesman,
27 Oct. 2025
-
The Clinton years and the 1990s, defined by continuous domestic economic growth and headline-grabbing scandals, were a time when liberal idealism was so strong that Aaron Sorkin wrote a show about it.—
Kevin Dolak,
HollywoodReporter,
27 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pirate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pirate. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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