Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "buccaneer" [buc•ca•neer]

  • A pirate, especially one of the freebooters who preyed on Spanish shipping in the West Indies during the 17th century. (noun)
  • A ruthless speculator or adventurer. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "buccaneer" in a sentence
  • ""You're what they call a buccaneer of business, aren't you?""
  • "And when the German trade journals refused to accept American advertisements, they found their country flamingly bill-boarded in buccaneer American fashion."
  • "Describing Siqueiros as a "Latin American buccaneer," Deutscher describes him as a man in whom "art, revolution and gangsterism were inseparable.""