usurp

[yoo-surp, -zurp]

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)

1. to commit forcible or illegal seizure of an office, power, etc.; encroach.

usurp

/ juːˈzɜːp /

verb

1. to seize, take over, or appropriate (land, a throne, etc) without authority

Other Word Forms

• usurper noun
• usurpingly adverb
• nonusurping adjective
• nonusurpingly adverb
• self-usurp verb (used without object)
• unusurping adjective
• usurpation noun
• usurpative adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of usurp¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Latin ūsūrpāre “to take possession through use,” equivalent to ūsū (ablative of ūsus “act of using, employment” ( use ) + -rp-, reduced form of -rip-, combining form of rapere “to seize” + -āre infinitive ending

Word History and Origins

Origin of usurp¹

C14: from Old French usurper, from Latin ūsūrpāre to take into use, probably from ūsus use + rapere to seize

Example Sentences

“Activist Treasury issuance” practices, they wrote, were “dynamically managing financial conditions and through them, the economy, usurping core functions of the Federal Reserve.”

Read more on Barron's

“Activist Treasury issuance” practices, they wrote, were “dynamically managing financial conditions and through them, the economy, usurping core functions of the Federal Reserve.”

Read more on Barron's

In claiming power to give France a new constitution, Mr. Hardman notes, the assembly “had usurped the rights of the people as well as the king.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

It also allows the SEC bureaucracy to usurp the judgments of Congress and state legislatures on campaign contributions.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

District Court for the Eastern District of California, argues the law usurps the NLRB’s authority “by attempting to regulate areas explicitly reserved for federal oversight.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• annex 
• preempt 
• supplant 
• wrest