usurp
Use Usurp in a sentence
verb (used with object)
1.
to seize and hold (a position, office, power, etc.) by force or without legal right: The pretender tried to usurp the throne.
2.
to use without authority or right; employ wrongfully: The magazine usurped copyrighted material.
verb (used without object)
3.
to commit forcible or illegal seizure of an office, power, etc.; encroach.
Origin:
1275–1325; Middle English < Latin ūsūrpāre to take possession through use, equivalent to ūsū (ablative of ūsus use (noun)) + -rp-, reduced form of -rip-, combining form of rapere to seize + -āre infinitive ending
1275–1325; Middle English < Latin ūsūrpāre to take possession through use, equivalent to ūsū (ablative of ūsus use (noun)) + -rp-, reduced form of -rip-, combining form of rapere to seize + -āre infinitive ending
Related forms
u·surp·er, noun
u·surp·ing·ly, adverb
non·u·surp·ing, adjective
non·u·surp·ing·ly, adverb
self-u·surp, verb (used without object)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
|
Link To Usurp
00:10
Usurp
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is fletcherise. Does it mean:
| to bark; yelp. |
| to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
usurp (juːˈzɜːp) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —vb | |
| to seize, take over, or appropriate (land, a throne, etc) without authority | |
| [C14: from Old French usurper, from Latin ūsūrpāre to take into use, probably from ūsus use + rapere to seize] | |
| usur'pation | |
| —n | |
| u'surpative | |
| —adj | |
| u'surpatory | |
| —adj | |
| u'surper | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
They feel that to do so would usurp the legislative committee structure.
Conversely, management should not usurp the director's role.
Emma announced repeatedly that if reality began to usurp the ideal, she would ditch reality in less than a second.
Further, it would usurp the agency's function for us to set aside the agency's ruling on a ground not presented to it.
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