pirate 1 of 2

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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pirate

2 of 2

verb

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of pirate
Noun
Some of the pirates were already waiting there in speedboats. Soham Mitra, Lou Robinson and Patrick Gallagher, CNN, 22 Feb. 2025 Ozzy Osbourne could've been a pirate — and wife Sharon still regrets not letting him. Marina Watts, People.com, 19 Feb. 2025
Verb
The average large studio spends over $100 million annually trying to protect its content, yet for $29 and a 5-minute YouTube video, anyone can rip and pirate virtually any platform. Kyle J. Russell, USA TODAY, 14 Dec. 2024 The film has already been widely pirated in Israel. Yasmeen Serhan, TIME, 10 Dec. 2024 See All Example Sentences for pirate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pirate
Noun
  • Which is not to say that Skeleton Crew, in success, couldn’t ever feature the interstellar buccaneer.
    Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 15 Jan. 2025
  • Her approach is a clean break from the 19th-century tradition of American landscape art, in which de facto propagandists like Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Cole depicted land as radiant and virginal, the birthright of any colonial buccaneer drunk on Manifest Destiny.
    Jeremy Lybarger, ARTnews.com, 6 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • In a lightning three-week offensive, the M23 took control of eastern Congo's main city Goma and seized the second largest city, Bukavu.
    JANVIER BARHAHIGA AND MONIKA PRONCZUK THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, arkansasonline.com, 28 Feb. 2025
  • Serving this warrant with a copy of the Affidavit, and making the search and if the person or property to be found there, to seize the person or the property and hold for safekeeping until further order of this court.
    Dominic Patten, Deadline, 27 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • There are privateers and those who spend smaller dollars, with some help of sponsors, but it is largely populated by multi-million-dollar teams; some have private chefs, massage therapists, a cadre of engineers, and a media contingent.
    Sue Mead, Popular Science, 13 Feb. 2025
  • Vessels discovered in the area include a War of 1812 privateer, boats sunk by German submarines during World War II and an actual German U-boat sunk by Allied forces, the federal agency said.
    Michael Loria, USA TODAY, 31 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • While the competitive spirt was certainly alive and well between co-parents Tarek, Heather and Christina throughout the season, another personal crisis unexpectedly stole the show: Christina's split from Josh.
    Colson Thayer, People.com, 6 Mar. 2025
  • While its interior artfully blends mid-century aesthetics with a modern Scandinavian feel, the food and beverage program truly steals the spotlight.
    Hudson Lindenberger, Forbes, 6 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • 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
  • There is widespread, cross-partisan public support for finally clamping down on these corporate freebooters.
    Prem Thakker, The New Republic, 23 Feb. 2023
Verb
  • Personal property confiscated by the FBI during its 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago was boxed up and loaded onto Air Force One to make the journey back to Florida.
    Christian Datoc, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 1 Mar. 2025
  • President Donald Trump celebrated on Friday after the FBI returned boxes of classified documents that were confiscated during a raid of Mar-a-Lago in 2022.
    Dan Perry, Newsweek, 1 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • Freed from a Mediterranean Sea crowded with Ottoman fleets and North African corsairs, the Atlantic upstarts unleashed themselves on the world’s oceans.
    Jeremy Adelman, Foreign Affairs, 20 Apr. 2015
  • But the stealthy corsair, evading her pursuer, slipped to safety in Tripoli’s shallow harbor—and then, suddenly, disaster struck the Philadelphia.
    Mark G. Spencer, WSJ, 31 Jan. 2023
Verb
  • Tari Eason scored 14 points and Dillon Brooks added 12. Sabonis’ injury Sabonis grabbed his left hamstring while running the floor just over a minute into the game.
    Jason Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 2 Mar. 2025
  • Lozano exited the match in the 28th minute after appearing to grab his left hamstring.
    Ryan Finley, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Pirate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pirate. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.

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