piratical

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin pīrāticus +‎ -al,[1] from Ancient Greek πειρᾱτικός (peirātikós); equivalent to pirate +‎ -ical.[2]

Adjective

piratical (comparative more piratical, superlative most piratical)

  1. Of, pertaining to, or similar to pirates.
    • 1879, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, “When Frederic Was a Little Lad”, in The Pirates of Penzance  […], Philadelphia: J.M. Stoddart & Co., published 1880, →OCLC, page 5:
      A nursery-maid is never afraid of what you people call work,
      So I made up my mind to go as a kind of piratical maid-of-all-work;
    • 2019 September 14, Miranda Sawyer, “Mark Leckey: ‘There has to be a belief that art has this power, this charisma'”, in The Guardian‎:
      He looks piratical, with his beard and long hair and single pearl earring, or like a jumble-sale 17th century nobleman.
  2. (ornithology) Of a bird, practising kleptoparasitism.

References
  1. “piratical, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠‎, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000, archived from the original on 2023-10-07.
  2. Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “piratical (adj.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
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