foreclose

[fawr-klohz, fohr-]

verb (used with object)

foreclosed, foreclosing 

1. Law.

   1. to deprive (a mortgagor or pledgor) of the right to redeem their property, especially on failure to make payment on a mortgage when due, ownership of property then passing to the mortgagee.

   2. to take away the right to redeem (a mortgage or pledge).

2. to shut out; exclude; bar.

3. to hinder or prevent, as from doing something.

4. to establish an exclusive claim to.

5. to close, settle, or answer beforehand.

verb (used without object)

foreclosed, foreclosing 

1. to take away the right to redeem a mortgage or pledge.

foreclose

/ fɔːˈkləʊz, fɔːˈkləʊʒə /

verb

1. law to deprive (a mortgagor, etc) of the right to redeem (a mortgage or pledge)

2. (tr) to shut out; bar

3. (tr) to prevent or hinder

4. (tr) to answer or settle (an obligation, promise, etc) in advance

5. (tr) to make an exclusive claim to

Other Word Forms

• foreclosable adjective
• nonforeclosing adjective
• foreclosure noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of foreclose¹

First recorded 1250–1300; Middle English foreclosen from Old French forclos, past participle of forclore “to exclude,” equivalent to for- “out” + clore “to shut” (from Latin claudere )

Word History and Origins

Origin of foreclose¹

C15: from Old French forclore , from for- out + clore to close, from Latin claudere

Example Sentences

But circumstances can change, and a permanent prohibition against Ukrainian membership would foreclose a step that may become necessary.

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The Debt Recovery Act of 1732, we are told, formalized the “ability of creditors to foreclose on American land”; without it, lending on land would have been almost impossible.

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In their mutually reinforcing preparations to annihilate one another, erase the past and foreclose the possibility of future generations, he concluded, “the superpowers have dutifully embraced this legacy…Adolf Hitler lives on.”

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She rides the bus while Henry Rosenzweig, her superintendent at the Jewish Community Center, drives to work in his Cadillac considering which mortgages to foreclose on next.

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“When I started as a youth climate organizer, I was motivated by this sense of anger and rage that my own future was being foreclosed upon by politicians and the fossil fuel industry,” she said.

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Related Words

• preclude