dispossess

[dis-puh-zes]

verb (used with object)

1. to put (a person) out of possession, especially of real property; oust.

2. to banish.

3. to abandon ownership of (a building), especially as a bad investment.

   Landlords have dispossessed many old tenement buildings.

dispossess

/ ˌdɪspəˈzɛs /

verb

1. (tr) to take away possession of something, esp property; expel

Other Word Forms

• dispossessory adjective
• dispossession noun
• dispossessor noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of dispossess¹

First recorded in 1425–75; dis- ¹ + possess; replacing Middle English disposseden, equivalent to dis- ¹ + posseden (from Old French posseder ), from Latin possidēre; possess

Synonym Study

See strip ¹.

Example Sentences

He believes that those at the heart of the protests were the "dispossessed".

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White Americans were moving into the Southwest in large numbers, dispossessing the Mexican Americans who had been there for generations through the courts, squatting or outright murder.

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He has spent a decade organizing among the poor and dispossessed, including with the Kairos Center and the Poor People’s Campaign.

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But he was unique among the Democrats in speaking directly to the disaffected and dispossessed middle class.

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Those who protest are dispossessed of their property, even their land.

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Related Words

• evict