plagiary

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a plagiarist; a person who presents another's words or ideas as their own

   The plagiary accepted praise for passages he had copied.

2. 2
   noun

   the act or practice of literary theft; plagiarism

   The critic accused the poet of plagiary.

3. 3
   adj

   plagiarizing or derived by plagiarism

   The editor identified several plagiary passages in the manuscript.

From Latin plagiarius, 'kidnapper' and later 'literary thief,' from plagium, 'kidnapping,' probably related to plaga, 'net or snare.' The metaphor of kidnapping was transferred to stolen writing.

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