plagiarize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
plagiarizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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plagiarized,
past participle, past
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plagiarizing
present participle
-
to take and use by plagiarism.
-
to take and use ideas, passages, etc., from (another's work) by plagiarism.
verb (used without object)
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plagiarizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
plagiarized,
past participle, past
-
plagiarizing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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plagiarizesimple
-
plagiarizessimple
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have plagiarizedperfect
-
has plagiarizedperfect
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am plagiarizingprogressive
-
are plagiarizingprogressive
-
is plagiarizingprogressive
-
have been plagiarizingperfect progressive
-
has been plagiarizingperfect progressive
Past
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plagiarizedsimple
-
had plagiarizedperfect
-
was plagiarizingprogressive
-
were plagiarizingprogressive
-
had been plagiarizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of plagiarize
First recorded in 1710–20; plagiar(ism) + -ize
Explanation
You plagiarize when you take someone's ideas or words and pass them off as your own. It's a fancy word for copying. When you write your first research paper, your teacher will probably spend some time explaining why you shouldn't plagiarize — and the consequences if you do. It's not illegal to plagiarize but it's morally wrong, and it might just get you tossed out of school. If you're writing something and include someone else's words or ideas without attribution, you are plagiarizing. The origins of the word are said to mean "one who kidnaps the child of another" — which certainly gives a sense of the gravity of the charge. After all, some writers do consider their words to be their babies.
Vocabulary lists containing plagiarize
100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know
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List 2
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Common Core Grades 7–8, List 5
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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.
See Examples For:
In a Sunday editorial, the Boston Globe asked, “Did Claudine Gay plagiarize or not? Harvard should be clear.”
From Washington Times ● Dec. 20, 2023
"All it does is plagiarize what has been fed into the system and is not capable of writing anything."
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2023
In the quickly evolving area of AI imagery, Adobe has tried to position itself as a responsible industry citizen by offering products that won’t plagiarize or create offensive imagery.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 12, 2023
A New York jury sided with Ed Sheeran on Thursday, finding that he did not plagiarize Marvin Gaye’s classic song “Let’s Get It On.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2023
“We’re not going to plagiarize her. Filmmakers create stories based on true events all the time. It’s a common thing.”
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
Like AI art, writing generated by AI both plagiarizes and takes away from real, living artists and their craft, training and livelihood.
From Salon ● Feb. 25, 2023
As it happens with even the best storytellers, Questlove unfortunately — and one hopes unwittingly — at times plagiarizes his own work.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 20, 2021
After the claim made by the Raisens, CeCe Peniston wrote on Instagram that “Truth Hurts” plagiarizes her classic ‘90s hit, “Finally,” calling it “a clear example of #copyrightinfringement.”
From Washington Times ● Oct. 23, 2019
After the claim made by the Raisens, CeCe Peniston wrote on Instagram that “Truth Hurts” plagiarizes her classic ’90s hit, “Finally,” calling it “a clear example of #copyrightinfringement.”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 23, 2019
In leaving home, Shylock's French plagiarizes the Jew's speech to Jessica, even down to the doubt the Jew has about leaving his house at all.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 34, August, 1860 by Various
Cofnas also flagged several other pieces Arday wrote that appeared to include plagiarized text.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
"The book was pulled from publication because Hill plagiarized portions of it."
From BBC ● May 13, 2026
“AI plagiarized all my books. It seems unlikely that I’ll be ‘left behind’ if I don’t use it, given that it’s trained on work I did years ago,” wrote “Get Well Soon” author Jennifer Wright.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
These manuscripts often contain fabricated data, manipulated or stolen images, plagiarized text and sometimes claims that are scientifically impossible.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 7, 2026
Ironically, della Porta was soon complaining that his own discussion of magnetism had been plagiarized by William Gilbert.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Arday resigned this month amid allegations of plagiarizing his doctoral thesis and fabricating parts of his life story.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
The scandal erupted after some academics and media reports accused Arday, who became Cambridge University's youngest Black professor in 2023, of plagiarizing parts of his doctoral thesis.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
On Monday, a federal judge in Florida dismissed with prejudice a copyright lawsuit that accused Swift of plagiarizing a self-published poet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
On Twitter, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin directly accused Sun of plagiarizing from his crypto white papers, which Sun denied.
From Slate ● Dec. 3, 2024
She really should have skipped the word plagiarizing, but I didn’t mention her poor pronunciation.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
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.
