dispossessed
Americanadjective
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evicted, as from a dwelling, land, etc.; ousted.
-
without property, status, etc., as wandering or displaced persons; rootless; disfranchised.
-
having suffered the loss of expectations, prospects, relationships, etc.; disinherited; disaffiliated; alienated.
The modern city dweller may feel spiritually dispossessed.
Etymology
Origin of dispossessed
First recorded in 1590–1600; dispossess + -ed 2
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.
Sure enough, Gordon was dispossessed far too easily by Iliman Ndiaye in the build-up to Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall picking out Barry at the back post.
From BBC • Feb. 28, 2026
With six minutes of regular time remaining, he dispossessed an opponent, surged forward and coolly fired the ball into the net.
From Barron's • Feb. 16, 2026
Goldblatt’s pictures from before these events are touristic and from afterward elegiac; particularly moving are his portraits of the dispossessed, showing their bitterness and their dignity.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025
He has spent a decade organizing among the poor and dispossessed, including with the Kairos Center and the Poor People’s Campaign.
From Salon • Jul. 21, 2025
Most of those tribelets were killed off or dispossessed during or soon after the California gold rush of 1848-52, when large numbers of immigrants flooded the state.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
