dispossessed

[ dis-puh-zest ]

adjective

1. evicted, as from a dwelling, land, etc.; ousted.
2. without property, status, etc., as wandering or displaced persons; rootless; disfranchised.
3. having suffered the loss of expectations, prospects, relationships, etc.; disinherited; disaffiliated; alienated:

   The modern city dweller may feel spiritually dispossessed.

Word History and Origins

Origin of dispossessed¹

First recorded in 1590–1600; dispossess + -ed ²

Example Sentences

Xabi Alonso, the Spanish midfielder who has had a tournament to forget (after only two games), was brusquely dispossessed.

From The Daily Beast

Pope Francis, the first Pope from a developing nation, sees the world through the eyes of the poor and dispossessed.

From The Daily Beast

But we live in times where revolutions and uprisings are rising from the disenchanted and the dispossessed.

From The Daily Beast

The poor and dispossessed are shuffled out to suburbs and never seen.

From The Daily Beast

Israel recently advanced legislation calling for tens of thousands of Bedouin citizens to be uprooted and dispossessed.

From The Daily Beast

The advancing sand gradually crept into the hamlet, and in the course of a decade dispossessed the people by burying their houses.

From Project Gutenberg

But the Boers advanced, the natives were dispossessed of their lands, and missionaries were expelled from their regions.

From Project Gutenberg

Among them was Eucher with the handsome Yolande, dispossessed of her father's heritage by the seigneur of Plouernel.

From Project Gutenberg

In that struggle Thyrsis saw clearly that his place was in the ranks of the disinherited and dispossessed.

From Project Gutenberg

She was afterwards dispossessed, but the government remained in the hands of the descendants of her family.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• destitute
• disadvantaged
• needy
• underprivileged