dispossess

American

[dis-puh-zes] / ˌdɪs pəˈzɛs /

verb (used with object)

to put (a person) out of possession, especially of real property; oust.
to banish.
to abandon ownership of (a building), especially as a bad investment.

Landlords have dispossessed many old tenement buildings.

dispossess British

/ ˌdɪspəˈzɛs /

verb

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

"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

Related Words

See strip ¹.

Other Word Forms

dispossession noun
dispossessor noun
dispossessory adjective

Etymology

Origin of dispossess

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"Hold On to Me" from Cyprus traces the efforts of an 11-year-old tracking down her estranged father, while documentary "Kikuyu Land" from Kenya examines how powerful outside forces use local corruption to dispossess a people.

From Barron's • Jan. 22, 2026

They were visualizing that they would just dispossess them.

From Slate • Feb. 5, 2024

Vela’s faint effort to dispossess León of the ball was in vain.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2023

Not all alleged witches were poor and landless, however, and sometimes hunts served to dispossess them.

From Scientific American • May 31, 2023

Disseize, dis-sēz′, v.t. to deprive of seizin or possession of an estate of freehold: to dispossess wrongfully.—ns.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

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