plagiarize

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to use another person's words, ideas, or creative work and present them as one's own, especially without proper acknowledgment

   A student who copies the article without citation will plagiarize its author.

Formed in the early eighteenth century from plagiary ("plagiarist") + -ize. Plagiary came from Latin plagiarius ("kidnapper"), which the Roman poet Martial used figuratively for a literary thief who had "kidnapped" his verses; English retained that metaphor for stolen words and ideas.

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