intellectual property
Americannoun
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Law. property that results from original creative thought, as patents, copyright material, and trademarks.
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an individual product of original creative thought.
Microsoft’s Halo franchise is one of the most profitable intellectual properties in the video game industry.
noun
Etymology
Origin of intellectual property
An Americanism dating back to 1840–45
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has also warned that Chinese AI firms could face sanctions over allegations that they have stolen American intellectual property.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
They will visit a naval base, where Burnham will announce the sharing of the intellectual property behind the UK's new "Stone Cloak" electronic warfare system, enabling Ukraine to produce the technology at scale.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
“We take copyright infringement seriously and will pursue all appropriate remedies to protect our content and intellectual property rights.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
Cheaper and faster models coming from developers in China -- particularly from DeepSeek and Moonshot -- have ruffled feathers, and raised concerns about intellectual property theft, in the US.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
It did not occur to Browne that the notion of intellectual property owed as much to Columbus as to the printing press.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
