dispossessed
Americanadjective
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evicted, as from a dwelling, land, etc.; ousted.
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without property, status, etc., as wandering or displaced persons; rootless; disfranchised.
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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.
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
In the golden age of mobility, the winners were the dispossessed.
From Salon • Mar. 26, 2025
Now that fires from Pacific Palisades to Altadena to Castaic have finally subsided, thousands upon thousands of residents are returning to a life dispossessed of its least common denominators.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 7, 2025
Somebody was bound to stay with us, but I didn’t usually get dispossessed.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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.
