copyright
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The legal right to decide who can copy or publish work
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kahpeerytSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɑpiˌɹaɪt
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The right by law to be the entity which determines who may publish, copy and distribute a piece of writing, music, picture or other work of authorship.
“Copyright is a separate legal area from trademarks.”
Such an exclusive right as it pertains to one or more specific works.
“The artist lost the copyrights to her songs when she signed the contract.”
verb
To obtain or secure a copyright for some literary or other artistic work.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The right by law to be the entity which determines who may publish, copy and distribute a piece of writing, music, picture or other work of authorship.
Used this way, copyright is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
“Copyright is a separate legal area from trademarks.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Law/legal
- Government/politics
- Academic writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use copyright
- “This image is protected by strict copyright law.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A violation of the rights secured by a copyright.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API (CC BY-SA 3.0). Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.