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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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foreclosesimple
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foreclosessimple
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have foreclosedperfect
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has foreclosedperfect
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am foreclosingprogressive
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are foreclosingprogressive
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is foreclosingprogressive
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have been foreclosingperfect progressive
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has been foreclosingperfect progressive
Past
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foreclosedsimple
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had foreclosedperfect
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was foreclosingprogressive
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were foreclosingprogressive
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had been foreclosingperfect progressive
Future
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 )
Explanation
To foreclose is to prevent something from happening. If you want to foreclose any possibility of getting in a car accident, you should travel by train instead. Foreclose comes from the Old French forclore, "exclude or shut out," which led to its sense of "bar from happening," and also the legal meaning, "bar someone from redeeming a mortgage." If a bank forecloses on a property, they take it away from the person who lives there. This typically happens once the homeowner has missed several payments on their mortgage, the money they owe after borrowing from the bank.
Vocabulary lists containing foreclose
Case Closed: Clud, Clus
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The Wishing Spell
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Ghost Squad
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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.
See Examples For:
Not only does it create a lien against your home, but your relative could potentially foreclose on the property.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
Pinnacle filed for bankruptcy last year after Flagstar moved to foreclose on the portfolio.
From Barron's ● Jan. 8, 2026
But circumstances can change, and a permanent prohibition against Ukrainian membership would foreclose a step that may become necessary.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 25, 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
“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
If the U.S. legally forecloses this question while other nations leave it open, we risk being strategically blindsided.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 25, 2025
In “Class,” however, that anger forecloses the greatest gift of the memoir genre, which is self-reflection.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2023
But they shouldn’t adopt a theory of the First Amendment that forecloses such regulation entirely.
From Slate ● Jan. 9, 2023
“This Court’s longstanding precedent forecloses applicants’ attempt to have the courts look behind the request’s stated legislative purpose to the subjective motives of individual legislators,” she wrote.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 22, 2022
“The bank forecloses on people’s farms and throws them off their land, and they don’t even appreciate it.”
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
Colony Ridge foreclosed on one of the lots in 2021, according to Sanchez, who disputes the developer’s claims that she had missed loan payments.
From Salon ● Apr. 12, 2026
Large investment firms mopped up foreclosed homes after the 2008 housing crash, placing a floor on prices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026
Virginia does not have a “right of redemption,” so homeowners are generally not permitted to repurchase the foreclosed property.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 7, 2026
An A-CAP affiliate, ACM Delegate, foreclosed on all of Glutality’s assets, valued at $25.5 million, in July 2025, according to filings.
From Barron's ● Mar. 4, 2026
They’d have him disbarred; Bud Gleason would no doubt see that Hirsshorn foreclosed on his house.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
With a $127,000 federal tax lien on his New Orleans-area home in 2007 and a bank foreclosing on a second home in Florida, Alvendia joined Star Academy as a national salesman.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026
By foreclosing rescission and large damages, the high court substantially narrowed the foundation for any significant plaintiffs’ fee award in future cases, lowering litigation risk at the margins.
From Barron's ● Jan. 14, 2026
By foreclosing that tool, the court doesn’t just alter the shape of judicial relief.
From Slate ● Jun. 27, 2025
Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, a fellow New York Republican who reviles Santos, introduced a bill this year aimed at foreclosing just that possibility.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 2, 2023
This last procedure is called foreclosing the mortgage.
From Business English A Practice Book by Buhlig, Rose
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.
