seized

[seezd]

adjective

1. taken hold, possession, or control of, as by force or legal authority; confiscated, captured, or appropriated.

   Police say the seized property includes knives, computer equipment, a balaclava, and military clothing.

   Settlers were observed planting olive trees on illegally seized land.

2. (of an opportunity) taken advantage of promptly.

   Everything that Mom and I had accomplished was rooted firmly in the soil of hard work and seized opportunities.

3. (of moving parts) locked or jammed, as from excessive friction (often followed byup ).

   I gladly pay top dollar for lubricants and fluids, because I know it's far more expensive to have to rebuild a seized engine!

4. having ceased to function; having come to a halt (often followed byup ).

   Businesses need to access credit lines to function, but now the credit market is totally seized up.

5. fully understood; mentally grasped.

   People who need cognitive closure will absorb a statement early in the process of acquiring knowledge, "freeze" on that seized idea, and resist further information.

6. (of melted chocolate) grainy and clumpy from overheating or from contact with a small amount of moisture.

   To reverse the reaction, add more liquid, but just enough to dissolve most of the sugar and cocoa particles in the seized chocolate clumps.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of seize.

Other Word Forms

• unseized adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of seized¹

seize ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

In the late 1990s, Simpson gave up his Brentwood estate and moved to Florida, where under state law his home could not be seized by creditors, in large part to avoid paying the civil judgment.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Mali's junta, which seized power in back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, had promised to stem the jihadist insurgency that has plagued the country for more than a decade but has achieved little success.

Read more on Barron's

A little later, a second team of investigators picked up his second brother and seized their laptops and phones.

Read more on BBC

But the billionaires—co-owners of a professional hockey team who have talked of “skating where the puck is going”—seized the opportunity to get in on the AI boom.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"In total, 472 exotic animals have been seized, including leopard tortoises, spurred tortoises, Mediterranean tortoises, iguanas, geckos of different varieties, tarantulas and Nile monitor lizards, among others," said a Civil Guard statement.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• captured www.thesaurus.com