Standard Lemma guide

plagiarize

verb · 2 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.

  • /ˈpleɪd͡ʒəɹaɪz/
  • /ˈpleɪd͡ʒi.əɹaɪz/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P L EY1 JH ER0 AY2 Z Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing, speech, ideas, or other intellectual or creative work, especially in an academic context; to commit plagiarism.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: ambitransitive

Examples

  • She was caught trying to plagiarize an article for her thesis.
  • It’s unethical to plagiarize someone else’s work for personal gain.
  • Students should learn to write in their own words and avoid plagiarizing.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

take without referencing from someone else's writing or speech; of intellectual property

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: plagiarise, lift

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: steal

Narrower terms: crib

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Latin plagium Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -ārius Latin plagiārius English plagiary Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)bor. Late Latin -izōder. Middle French -iserbor. Middle English -isen English -ize English plagiarize From plagiary + -ize, ultimately from Latin plagiare (“to kidnap, to abduct”).

Across languages

Translations

31 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: اِنْتَحَلَ (intaḥala) — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Bulgarian: плагиатствам (plagiatstvam) — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Catalan: plagiar — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Chinese Mandarin: 剽竊 /剽窃 (piāoqiè) — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Chinese Mandarin: 抄襲 /抄袭 (chāoxí) — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Esperanto: plagiati — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Finnish: plagioida — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • French: plagier — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Galician: plaxiar — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • German: plagiieren — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • German: geistigen Diebstahl begehen — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • German: abkupfern — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • German: guttenbergen — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Greek: λογοκλοπώ (logoklopó) — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Gujarati: સાહિત્યચોરવું (sāhityacorvũ) — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Ido: plajiar — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Irish: bradaíl a dhéanamh — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Italian: plagiare — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Māori: whānako kōrero — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Māori: tārua whānako — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Polish: plagiatować — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Polish: zrzynać — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Portuguese: plagiar — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Romanian: plagia — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Russian: занима́ться плагиа́том (zanimátʹsja plagiátom) — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Russian: спи́сывать (spísyvatʹ) — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Russian: списа́ть (spisátʹ) — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Spanish: plagiar — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Spanish: fusilar — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Swedish: plagiera — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
  • Welsh: llên-ladrata — use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech