foreclosure

American  

[fawr-kloh-zher, fohr-] / fɔrˈkloʊ ʒər, foʊr- /

noun

Law.

• foreclosures
  plural

1. the act of foreclosing a mortgage or pledge.

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foreclosure Cultural  

1. A proceeding in which the financer of a mortgage seeks to regain property because the borrower has defaulted on payments.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• antiforeclosure
  noun
• nonforeclosure
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• foreclosures
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of foreclosure

First recorded in 1720–30; foreclose + -ure

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Explanation

When a homeowner can't afford to pay her mortgage, she might face foreclosure, which is when a bank repossesses a borrower's house. A bank most often starts foreclosure proceedings against someone who's taken out a loan to buy a house when that person stops making monthly payments. The agreement a borrower makes when she gets a bank mortgage is that she'll pay a certain amount of money every month, and failing to do it means risking foreclosure. The word foreclosure comes from the Latin words fors, "out," and clore "to shut."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

foreclosure foreclosures

It was, sad to say, not an uncommon story during the last recession, when the unemployment rate rose to 10% and the number of foreclosure filings hit 2.8 million in 2009.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026

The billionaire venture capitalist and PayPal co-founder quietly bought the property through a limited liability company at a foreclosure auction in Pomona in July, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the sale.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026

Purchase price of Casa Encantada, the circa-1930s Bel-Air estate once prized as one of Los Angeles’s grandest homes, following an open-air foreclosure sale in July.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

The decades-old winery is now facing a foreclosure sale to cover a $37-million outstanding loan, according to the Press Democrat.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

If we didn't sell our house, the bank would put it in foreclosure.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

Months later, he signed AB 238, a Harabedian bill that provided for 12 months of mortgage relief and banned late fees, foreclosures and negative reports to credit bureaus for homeowners who receive it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

We don’t have to live in a world where people profit from tragedy, be it wildfires or a child with cancer, housing foreclosures or weapons manufacturing.

From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026

When delinquencies and foreclosures force boards to cut back or delay upkeep, it ultimately hurts property values for the entire neighborhood, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026

The figure is also the highest since the first quarter of 2020, when pandemic-era mortgage-relief measures and stimulus payments first led to a huge drop in foreclosures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026

Mom and Dad told me that foreclosures happen to a lot of families.

From "A Soft Place to Land" by Janae Marks

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