What does plagiarist mean?
A plagiarist is a person who takes another author's wording, ideas, or creative work and presents them as if they were their own. The term is used most often for writers, students, researchers, and other people whose work may be copied, though it can apply more broadly to anyone who appropriates someone else's creative expression without acknowledgment. Plagiarist carries a strongly negative and usually disapproving connotation: unlike the neutral verb "copy," it frames the act as theft, deception, or serious misconduct. The distinction between the person and the act is useful. "Plagiarism" names the practice or instance, whereas "plagiarist" identifies an individual accused or understood to have committed it. Accusations should nevertheless be made carefully, because unintentional borrowing or inadequate citation is not necessarily plagiarism. The word is especially common in literary, academic, journalistic, and legal contexts, where originality and attribution are closely scrutinized.
nounA person who plagiarizes, especially by presenting another person's words, ideas, or creative work as their own.
- A person who appropriates another person's language, ideas, or creative work and presents it as their own.
"The novel was widely described as the work of a plagiarist after extensive passages were found to have been copied from an earlier book."
"Scholars identified passages in the thesis that appeared to have been copied from an obscure monograph, making its author a suspected plagiarist."
"The publisher terminated the contract after determining that the novelist was a plagiarist whose previous novel had reproduced substantial passages from another writer's work."
The plural refers to multiple people who have plagiarized or are accused of plagiarism.
"Several famous plagiarists have had their work reassessed after new evidence or improved detection methods became available."
From a Latin root associated with kidnapping, the plagiarist became a thief of language, ideas, and creative work.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does plagiarist come from?
Plagiarist comes from Latin plagiarius, meaning a plagiarist, from plagium, a word associated with kidnapping or stealing. The root's original sense of taking a person was extended metaphorically to the taking of another's words or creative work. English developed related forms such as plagiarism and plagiarize before using plagiarist for the person responsible for the act.
Related word forms
How plagiarist is actually used
The term normally carries a strongly disapproving or accusatory connotation and is especially common in literary, academic, journalistic, and legal contexts. It names a person, whereas plagiarism denotes the act or instance.
Easily confused with plagiarist
A plagiarist is the person who commits plagiarism, while plagiarize is the verb describing the act of taking and presenting another person's work as one's own.