cribbing

verb

Definition of cribbingnext
present participle of crib
as in inventing
to copy an idea, a piece of writing, etc., from someone else She cribbed a line or two from her favorite poet.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of cribbing The new breed of post-rock bands, on the other hand, were cribbing ideas from the worlds of dance music and hip-hop. — Sadie Sartini Garner, Pitchfork, 4 Oct. 2026 Recreating entire outfits, adopting your styling tricks, making a habit of hunting down your exact pieces, or cribbing an aesthetic that feels deeply tied to your identity is another. — Alesandra Dubin, Glamour, 17 Sep. 2026 Then there’s Sula, whose ending James borrows, tweaking the circumstances but cribbing the emotional beats. — Tembe Denton-Hurst, Vulture, 4 Sep. 2026 Labels are cut off the clothing, not merely to deter competitors from cribbing their inventory, but to ensure the focus remains on the wondrously eclectic pieces, and not on who might have designed them. — New York Times, 31 July 2026 Although his personal favorite interpretation is Craig’s, the actor wanted to focus on the philosophical pillars of the character, rather than cribbing from anyone else’s work. — Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 28 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cribbing
  1. inventing
  2. plagiarizing
  3. reproducing
  4. forging
  5. manipulating
  6. simulating
Verb
  • Reference Existing Guides Figuring out how to make a workplace menopause-friendly doesn’t require re-inventing the wheel.
    — Helen Carefoot, Flow Space, 21 Oct. 2026
  • But extracting rents is much easier than inventing new things.
    — NIALL FERGUSON, Foreign Affairs, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of inventing
Verb
  • The writers of these biblical tales weren’t plagiarizing Homer, MacDonald says.
    — John Blake, CNN Money, 2 Aug. 2026
  • Both are easier than plagiarizing Wikipedia ever was!
    — ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 13 Apr. 2026
Definition of plagiarizing
Verb
  • Turning chemical signals into digital instructions Recreating smell presents a different challenge from reproducing images or sound.
    — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2026
  • The likelier explanation, Seth said, is that the models have absorbed a great deal of information about how humans describe and respond to pain and are reproducing it.
    — Shae Lake, Fortune, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of reproducing
Verb
  • And yes, in 1861, Richard Cadbury came up with the Valentine box of chocolates, thus forging an indissoluble link between candy and the lucrative holiday calendar for all time to come.
    — Jeffrey Steingarten, Vogue, 25 Oct. 2026
  • Eisenkot has cultivated a reputation for integrity, competence, and personal rectitude, forging relationships across Israel’s fractured political spectrum.
    — Eric Cortellessa, Time, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of forging
Verb
  • This gave the team control over the motor’s movement without physically manipulating it.
    — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2026
  • The 18-year-old is suspected of manipulating an Indiana teen over a social platform into harming herself and taking her own life, according to prosecutors in Germany.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of manipulating
Verb
  • Researchers estimated in 2017 that simulating the ground-state energy of FeMoco, an iron-sulfur cluster involved in biological nitrogen fixation, would require roughly 50 trillion Toffoli gates.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Simulating an investment banker’s work is fundamentally different from simulating a software engineer’s work, CEO Jerry Wu tells Fortune.
    — Wen Shao, Fortune, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of simulating

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Cite this Entry

“Cribbing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cribbing. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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