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usurpation - 3 dictionary results

u⋅sur⋅pa⋅tion

  [yoo-ser-pey-shuhn, -zer-]
Use usurpation in a Sentence
–noun
1. an act of usurping; wrongful or illegal encroachment, infringement, or seizure.
2. illegal seizure and occupation of a throne.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME < L ūsūrpātiōn- (s. of ūsūrpātiō), equiv. to ūsūrpāt(us) (ptp. of ūsūrpāre to usurp ) + -iōn- -ion

Related forms:
u⋅sur⋅pa⋅tive  [yoo-sur-puh-tiv, ‑zur‑] , u⋅sur⋅pa⋅to⋅ry  [yoo-sur-puh-tawr-ee, ‑tohr-ee, ‑zur‑] , adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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u·sur·pa·tion   (yōō'sər-pā'shən, -zər-)   
n.  
  1. The act of usurping, especially the wrongful seizure of royal sovereignty.
  2. A wrongful seizure or exercise of authority or privilege belonging to another; an encroachment: "in our own day, gross usurpations upon the liberty of private life" (John Stuart Mill).
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Usurpation

U`sur*pa"tion\, n. [L. usurpatio ? making use, usurpation: cf. F. usurpation.]

1. The act of usurping, or of seizing and enjoying; an authorized, arbitrary assumption and exercise of power, especially an infringing on the rights of others; specifically, the illegal seizure of sovereign power; -- commonly used with of, also used with on or upon; as, the usurpation of a throne; the usurpation of the supreme power.

He contrived their destruction, with the usurpation of the regal dignity upon him. --Sir T. More.

A law [of a State] which is a usurpation upon the general government. --O. Ellsworth.

Manifest usurpation on the rights of other States. --D. Webster.

Note: Usurpation, in a peculiar sense, formerly denoted the absolute ouster and dispossession of the patron of a church, by a stranger presenting a clerk to a vacant benefice, who us thereupon admitted and instituted.

2. Use; usage; custom. [Obs.] --Bp. Pearson.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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