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compulsory purchase

British

noun

purchase of a house or other property by a local authority or government department for public use or to make way for development, regardless of whether or not the owner wishes to sell

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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compulsory purchase

The taskforce has recommended new towns are delivered by development corporations, which could have special planning powers to compulsory purchase land, invest in local services, and grant planning permission.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2025

Instead, the state could compulsory purchase a London hotel and give MPs a room there - a truck stop for parliamentarians, if you will.

From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2024

They were served with a compulsory purchase order and bailiffs were brought in.

From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2023

After being denied a compulsory purchase order, the 59-year-old said he had "lost everything".

From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2023

The Local Government Board subsequently held an inquiry to decide the amount to be paid to the Countess for the compulsory purchase of the land.

From Norfolk Annals A Chronological Record of Remarkable Events in the Nineteeth Century, Vol. 2 by Mackie, Charles

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023