Meanings
present singular third person plagiarizes · participle present plagiarizing · participle past plagiarized · past plagiarized · alternative plagiarise
- ambitransitiveTo 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.
She was caught trying to plagiarize an article for her thesis.
2 more examples
It’s unethical to plagiarize someone else’s work for personal gain.
Students should learn to write in their own words and avoid plagiarizing.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo 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.
More synonyms by meaning
verbtake without referencing from someone else's writing or speech; of intellectual property
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*pel-
- Proto-Indo-European*pleḱ-
- Latinplagium
- Latinplagiārius
- Englishplagiary
- Englishplagiarize
From plagiary + -ize, ultimately from Latin plagiare (“to kidnap, to abduct”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic اِنْتَحَلَ
- اِنْتَحَلَ (intaḥala)use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
Bulgarian плагиатствам
- плагиатствам (plagiatstvam)use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
Catalan plagiar
- plagiaruse, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
Chinese Mandarin 剽竊 /剽窃, 抄襲 /抄袭
- 剽竊 /剽窃 (piāoqiè)use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
- 抄襲 /抄袭 (chāoxí)use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
Esperanto plagiati
- plagiatiuse, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
Finnish plagioida
- plagioidause, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
French plagier
- plagieruse, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
German plagiieren, geistigen Diebstahl begehen
- plagiierenuse, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
- geistigen Diebstahl begehenuse, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
- abkupfernuse, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
- guttenbergenuse, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
Greek λογοκλοπώ
- λογοκλοπώ (logoklopó)use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
Irish bradaíl a dhéanamh
- bradaíl a dhéanamhuse, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
Italian plagiare
- plagiareuse, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
Māori whānako kōrero, tārua whānako
- whānako kōrerouse, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
- tārua whānakouse, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
Polish plagiatować, zrzynać
- plagiatowaćuse, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
- zrzynaćuse, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
Portuguese plagiar
- plagiaruse, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
Romanian plagia
- plagiause, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
Russian занима́ться плагиа́том, спи́сывать
- занима́ться плагиа́том (zanimátʹsja plagiátom)use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
- спи́сывать (spísyvatʹ)use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
- списа́ть (spisátʹ)use, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
Spanish plagiar, fusilar
- plagiaruse, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
- fusilaruse, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
Swedish plagiera
- plagierause, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
Welsh llên-ladrata
- llên-ladratause, and pass off as one's own, someone else's writing/speech
Cite this entry
plagiarize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/plagiarize
“plagiarize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/plagiarize. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “plagiarize,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/plagiarize.
Source: plagiarize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.