foreclose
Americanverb (used with object)
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Law.
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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.
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to take away the right to redeem (a mortgage or pledge).
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to shut out; exclude; bar.
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to hinder or prevent, as from doing something.
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to establish an exclusive claim to.
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to close, settle, or answer beforehand.
verb (used without object)
verb
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law to deprive (a mortgagor, etc) of the right to redeem (a mortgage or pledge)
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(tr) to shut out; bar
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(tr) to prevent or hinder
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(tr) to answer or settle (an obligation, promise, etc) in advance
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(tr) to make an exclusive claim to
Other Word Forms
- foreclosable adjective
- foreclosure noun
- nonforeclosing adjective
Etymology
Origin of foreclose
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 )
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.
Pinnacle filed for bankruptcy last year after Flagstar moved to foreclose on the portfolio.
From Barron's • Jan. 8, 2026
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.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025
Findley, 54, used several aliases to pose as the bogus lender, and threatened to foreclose on Graceland and auction the compound – unless the Presley family settled the claim for $2.85m.
From BBC • Sep. 23, 2025
Within a year and a half, she’d fallen behind and Vanderbilt was trying to foreclose on both her home and the family-owned land she used to secure the mortgage, the suit said.
From Salon • Mar. 16, 2025
“Certain items supposedly from the estate of President and Mrs. Abraham Lincoln have surfaced in a house the bank is forced to foreclose on. Do you grasp what this could mean, Mrs. Dowdel?”
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
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.
