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plagiarism

PLAY-juh-riz-um /ˈpleɪdʒəˌrɪzəm/

nounB2GRESATTOEFLIELTS

formalacademic

The practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.

Implies a breach of academic or professional ethics, often without intent to steal but still a serious offense. It's about claiming authorship of another's work.

The story behind the word. This word comes from the Latin `plagiarus`, meaning 'kidnapper,' which itself is derived from `plagium`, 'a kidnapping.' The Romans were quite dramatic, weren't they? So, when you plagiarize, you're essentially 'kidnapping' someone else's words or ideas and claiming them as your own, just as a `plagiarus` would steal a person.

Word relationships

piracy: Piracy usually refers to illegal copying and distribution, often for commercial gain, and is more about copyright infringement than claiming authorship.
theft (of ideas): More general term; plagiarism is a specific type of intellectual theft.

originality: The quality of being new and unique, opposite of copied.
attribution: The act of giving credit to the source, which prevents plagiarism.

Commonly confused with

copyright infringement: Plagiarism is an ethical offense of claiming authorship; copyright infringement is a legal offense of using copyrighted material without permission. They often overlap but are not identical.

Word family

plagiarize (verb): to take (the work or an idea of someone else) and pass it off as one's own
plagiarist (noun): a person who plagiarizes
plagiaristic (adjective): of or relating to plagiarism

Collocations

avoid plagiarism
accused of plagiarism
act of plagiarism
plagiarism detection

Example sentences

"The university has a zero-tolerance policy for plagiarism, emphasizing the importance of original thought and proper citation." Academic integrity is paramount in universities.
"A journalist was fired after it was discovered that parts of his article were direct plagiarism from another news source." A common concern in journalism.

Memory hook

Imagine a 'PLAY-giarism' where you play a trick by stealing someone's ideas and pretending they're yours. Kidnapping ideas.

When not to use

When referring to simple copying without the intent to claim authorship (e.g., copying a recipe for personal use) or when the act is purely a legal violation without the element of false attribution.

Fun facts

The first recorded use of 'plagiarism' in English to mean literary theft was in 1601 by Ben Jonson.