Standard Lemma guide

copyright

noun · verb · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˈkɑpiˌɹaɪt/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkɒpiˌɹaɪt/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • homophone: copywrite
  • rhymes with -aɪt
  • CMU ARPABET: K AA1 P IY0 R AY2 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The right by law to be the entity which determines who may publish, copy and distribute a piece of writing, music, picture or other work of authorship.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Examples

  • Copyright is a separate legal area from trademarks.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Such an exclusive right as it pertains to one or more specific works.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, usually

Examples

  • The artist lost the copyrights to her songs when she signed the contract.
  • The images are still copyright of the original artist.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A violation of copyright law; copyright infringement.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal, nonstandard, uncountable, usually

Examples

  • no copyright intended

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To obtain or secure a copyright for some literary or other artistic work.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

verb

Meaning 5

To flag for copyright violation, to copystrike.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal, nonstandard, transitive

Examples

  • I won’t play this track, I don’t wanna get copyrighted.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

a document granting exclusive right to publish and sell literary or musical or artistic work

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: right of first publication

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: legal right, document, written document, papers

7

verb

Meaning 7

secure a copyright on a written work

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • did you copyright your manuscript?

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: procure, secure

History

Etymology

From copy + right.

Across languages

Translations

122 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: e drejtë e autorit — right to publish
  • Arabic: حُقُوقُ النَّشْر (ḥuqūqu n-našr) — right to publish
  • Arabic: حُقُوقُ التَّأْلِيفِ وَٱلنَّشْر (ḥuqūqu t-taʔlīfi wa-n-našr) — right to publish
  • Armenian: հեղինակային իրավունք (heġinakayin iravunkʻ) — right to publish
  • Azerbaijani: müəllif hüququ — right to publish
  • Belarusian: а́ўтарскае пра́ва (áwtarskaje práva) — right to publish
  • Bulgarian: а́вторско пра́во (ávtorsko právo) — right to publish
  • Burmese: မူပိုင် (mupuing) — right to publish
  • Burmese: မူပိုင်ခွင့် (mupuinghkwang.) — right to publish
  • Catalan: drets d'autor — right to publish
  • Chinese Cantonese: 版權 /版权 (baan2 kyun4) — right to publish
  • Chinese: 版權 /版权 (zh-min-nan) — right to publish
  • Chinese Mandarin: 版權 /版权 (bǎnquán) — right to publish
  • Cornish: gwir-brintya — right to publish
  • Cornish: gwirbryntyans — right to publish
  • Cornish: gwir-pryntya — right to publish
  • Czech: autorské právo — right to publish
  • Czech: copyright — right to publish
  • Danish: ophavsret — right to publish
  • Dutch: auteursrecht — right to publish
  • Dutch: copyright — right to publish
  • Esperanto: aŭtora rajto — right to publish
  • Esperanto: aŭtororajto — right to publish
  • Esperanto: kopirajto — right to publish
  • Estonian: autoriõigus — right to publish
  • Finnish: tekijänoikeus — right to publish
  • Finnish: copyright — right to publish
  • French: droit d'auteur — right to publish
  • French: copyright — right to publish
  • Galician: dereitos de autor — right to publish
  • Georgian: საავტორო უფლებები (saavṭoro uplebebi) — right to publish
  • German: Urheberrecht — right to publish
  • Greek: δικαιώματα δημιουργού (dikaiómata dimiourgoú) — right to publish
  • Greek: πνευματικά δικαιώματα (pnevmatiká dikaiómata) — right to publish
  • Hausa: hakkin-mallaka — right to publish
  • Hebrew: זכיות יוצרים \ זְכֻיּוֹת יוֹצְרִים (zkhuyót yotsrím) — right to publish
  • Hindi: कॉपीराइट (kŏpīrāiṭ) — right to publish
  • Hindi: स्वत्वाधिकार (svatvādhikār) — right to publish
  • Hindi: प्रकाशनाधिकार (prakāśanādhikār) — right to publish
  • Hindi: प्रतिलिप्यधिकार (pratilipyadhikār) — right to publish
  • Hungarian: szerzői jog — right to publish
  • Icelandic: höfundarréttur — right to publish
  • Ido: autoryuro — right to publish
  • Indonesian: hak cipta — right to publish
  • Indonesian: hak pengarang — right to publish
  • Irish: cóipcheart — right to publish
  • Italian: copyright — right to publish
  • Italian: diritto d'autore — right to publish
  • Japanese: 版権 (hanken) — right to publish
  • Japanese: 著作権 (chosakuken) — right to publish
  • Kazakh: авторлық құқық (avtorlyq qūqyq) — right to publish
  • Khmer: រក្សាសិទ្ធិ (rĕəʼksaa sətthiʼ) — right to publish
  • Khmer: សិទ្ធិអ្នកនិពន្ធ (sətthiʼ nĕək nipŭən) — right to publish
  • Korean: 저작권 (jeojakgwon) — right to publish
  • Northern Kurdish: mafê telîfê — right to publish
  • Northern Kurdish: kopîrayt — right to publish
  • Kyrgyz: автордук укук (avtorduk ukuk) — right to publish
  • Lao: ລິຂະສິດ (li kha sit) — right to publish
  • Latvian: autortiesības — right to publish
  • Lithuanian: autorinė teisė — right to publish
  • Lithuanian: autorių teisė — right to publish
  • Luxembourgish: Auteursrecht — right to publish
  • Macedonian: а́вторско пра́во (ávtorsko právo) — right to publish
  • Malay: hak cipta — right to publish
  • Malayalam: പകർപ്പവകാശം (pakaṟppavakāśaṁ) — right to publish
  • Maltese: dritt tal-awtur — right to publish
  • Manx: coip-chiart — right to publish
  • Māori: manatā — right to publish
  • Māori: manatārua — right to publish
  • Mongolian: зохиогчийн эрх (zoxiogčiin erx) — right to publish
  • Norwegian Bokmål: opphavsrett — right to publish
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: opphavsrett — right to publish
  • Pashto: کاپي رايټ — right to publish
  • Pashto: د کاپي حق — right to publish
  • Iranian Persian: حَقِّ تَکْثیر (haġġ-e taksir) — right to publish
  • Iranian Persian: حَقِّ نَشْر (haġġ-e našr) — right to publish
  • Iranian Persian: کُپیرایْت (kopi-râyt) — right to publish
  • Polish: prawo autorskie — right to publish
  • Portuguese: direitos autorais — right to publish
  • Portuguese: direitos de autor — right to publish
  • Romanian: drept de autor — right to publish
  • Russian: а́вторское пра́во (ávtorskoje právo) — right to publish
  • Scottish Gaelic: dlighe-sgrìobhaidh — right to publish
  • Serbo-Croatian: ауторско право — right to publish
  • Serbo-Croatian: autorsko pravo — right to publish
  • Slovak: autorské právo — right to publish
  • Slovene: avtorske pravice — right to publish
  • Spanish: derechos de autor — right to publish
  • Spanish: derecho de autor — right to publish
  • Spanish: derecho de copia privada — right to publish
  • Swahili: hakimiliki — right to publish
  • Swedish: copyright — right to publish
  • Swedish: upphovsrätt — right to publish
  • Swedish: upphovsrättsskydd — right to publish
  • Tagalog: karapatang-akda — right to publish
  • Tagalog: karapatang-sipi — right to publish
  • Tajik: ҳаққи таксир (haqq-i taksir) — right to publish
  • Tajik: ҳаққи нашр (haqq-i našr) — right to publish
  • Tatar: авторлык хокукы (avtorlıq xoquqı) — right to publish
  • Thai: ลิขสิทธิ์ (lík-kà-sìt) — right to publish
  • Tigrinya: መሰል ደራሲ (mäsäl därasi) — right to publish
  • Turkish: telif hakkı — right to publish
  • Turkmen: awtorlyk hukugy — right to publish
  • Ukrainian: а́вторське пра́во (ávtorsʹke právo) — right to publish
  • Urdu: کاپی رائِٹ (kāpī rāiṭ) — right to publish
  • Urdu: حُقُوقِ نَقَل (huqūq-i naqal) — right to publish
  • Uzbek: mualliflik huquqi — right to publish
  • Vietnamese: bản quyền — right to publish
  • Welsh: hawlfraint — right to publish
  • Yakut: ааптар бырааба (aaptar bïraaba) — right to publish
  • Zhuang: banjgienz — right to publish
  • Dutch: onder auteursrecht plaatsen — place under a copyright
  • Finnish: suojata tekijänoikeudella — place under a copyright
  • French: copyrighter — place under a copyright
  • Greek: κατοχυρώνω (katochyróno) — place under a copyright
  • Italian: porre sotto copyright — place under a copyright
  • Italian: tutelare i diritti d'autore — place under a copyright
  • Italian: tutelare i copyright — place under a copyright
  • Slovene: avtorsko zaščititi — place under a copyright
  • Spanish: registrar derechos de autor — place under a copyright
  • Swedish: upphovsrättsskydda — place under a copyright
  • Welsh: hawlfreintio — place under a copyright
Real reading context

copyright in complete knowledge articles