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seize on

  1. Also, seize upon.

  2. Grab or take hold of suddenly, as in He seized on the bell rope and started to pull vigorously , or She seized upon every opportunity to present her side of the story . [Late 1600s]

  3. Resort to some action, especially out of dire necessity, as in He seized upon any excuse, no matter how farfetched .



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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.

Any announcement by a UK Labour government in the run-up to a much-anticipated budget, with a Senedd election looming and Labour in Wales struggling to hold on to power, will be seized on and analysed.

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At home, the opposition AfD party has seized on public anger with how the bombings cemented high energy prices with no relief in sight.

The Hellas Aphrodite, carrying petrol from India to South Africa, was seized on Thursday when armed pirates opened fire with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades before boarding the vessel.

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Her Democratic gubernatorial rivals seized on the videos.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Republicans have already seized on Mamdani's victory to try to shape the narrative of the Democratic party as being taken over by a Soviet-style communist.

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