privateer

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.

After surviving some of the war’s most consequential battles, Greenwood goes home and then he becomes a privateer, Ward says.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 12, 2025

His father, Jan Jansen, a Dutch privateer, was captured by one of the Moorish states in 1618.

From New York Times • Dec. 3, 2019

The San Juan Bautista, a Spanish ship transporting enslaved Africans, was bound for Mexico when it was attacked by the White Lion and another privateer, the Treasurer, and forced to surrender its African prisoners.

From The Guardian • Aug. 14, 2019

Two years in privateer teams followed, in which he did enough to catch the eye of Enzo Ferrari, who drafted him into his team in 1963.

From BBC • Mar. 10, 2017

“I guess a privateer would be a pirate in peacetime. But this is war. We only capture English ships.”

From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham