Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

copyright

American  
[kop-ee-rahyt] / ˈkɒp iˌraɪt /

noun

  1. the exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video, etc.: works granted such right by law on or after January 1, 1978, are protected for the lifetime of an author or creator and for a period of 70 years after their death.


adjective

  1. of or relating to copyrights.

  2. Also copyrighted. protected by copyright.

verb (used with object)

  1. to secure a copyright on.

copyright 1 British  
/ ˈkɒpɪˌraɪt /

noun

  1.  (c).  the exclusive right to produce copies and to control an original literary, musical, or artistic work, granted by law for a specified number of years (in Britain, usually 70 years from the death of the author, composer, etc, or from the date of publication if later)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adjective

  1. (of a work, etc) subject to or controlled by copyright

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. (tr) to take out a copyright on

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
© 2 British  

symbol

  1. copyright

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

copyright 1 Cultural  
  1. The legal protection given to published works, forbidding anyone but the author from publishing or selling them. An author can transfer the copyright to another person or corporation, such as a publishing company.


copyright 2 Cultural  
  1. A grant of an exclusive right to produce or sell a book, motion picture, work of art, musical composition, software, or similar product during a specified period of time.


Discover More

The symbol (see also symbol) for copyright is ©.

Other Word Forms

  • copyrightable adjective
  • copyrighter noun
  • uncopyrighted adjective

Etymology

Origin of copyright

First recorded in 1725–35; copy + right

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Many nations are moving to address the dangers of chatbots and image generators -- from misinformation to online abuse and copyright violations -- but few have enacted legislation.

From Barron's

“It’s another version of scraping, which has been a problem since day one,” Caen said, referencing how Anthropic’s Claude and other LLMs have been trained on large amounts of copyrighted material from across the internet.

From MarketWatch

The trade association, which represents the interests of major film and TV studios, sent a notice to the Chinese company, reflecting its members’ collective response to “ByteDance’s pervasive copyright infringement.”

From Los Angeles Times

It’s an image-intensive environment, and that imagery is often licensed, proprietary, or copyrighted.

From Barron's

Yet at the Olympics, it seemed that he would have to change his usual routine in the men's singles because of a copyright issue.

From BBC