piratical

P3I1R1A1T1I1C3A1L1
US/paɪˈɹætɪkɘl/

adjective

Of, pertaining to, or similar to pirates.

RareScrabble 13

Meanings

adjectivepiratical (comparative more piratical, superlative most piratical)

comparative more piratical · superlative most piratical · alternative piratic

  1. Of, pertaining to, or similar to pirates.

    He looks piratical, with his beard and long hair and single pearl earring, or like a jumble-sale 17th century nobleman.

    2019 September 14, Miranda Sawyer, “Mark Leckey: ‘There has to be a belief that art has this power, this charisma'”, in The Guardian
    1 more example

    A nursery-maid is never afraid of what you people call work, So I made up my mind to go as a kind of piratical maid-of-all-work;

    1879, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, “When Frederic Was a Little Lad”, in The Pirates of Penzance […], Philadelphia: J.M. Stoddart & Co., published 1880, →OCLC, page 5
  2. biologyOf a bird, practising kleptoparasitism.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekπειρᾱτικός
  2. Englishpiratical

From Latin pīrāticus + -al, from Ancient Greek πειρᾱτικός (peirātikós); equivalent to pirate + -ical.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

piratical. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/piratical

MLA

“piratical.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/piratical. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “piratical,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/piratical.

Source: piratical on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.