unseat
Americanverb (used with object)
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unseats,
present (3rd person singular)
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unseated,
past participle, past
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unseating
present participle
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to dislodge from a seat, especially to throw from a saddle, as a rider; unhorse.
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to remove from political office by an elective process, by force, or by legal action.
The corrupt mayor was finally unseated.
verb
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to throw or displace from a seat, saddle, etc
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to depose from office or position
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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unseatsimple
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unseatssimple
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have unseatedperfect
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has unseatedperfect
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am unseatingprogressive
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are unseatingprogressive
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is unseatingprogressive
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have been unseatingperfect progressive
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has been unseatingperfect progressive
Past
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unseatedsimple
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had unseatedperfect
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was unseatingprogressive
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were unseatingprogressive
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had been unseatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of unseat
Vocabulary lists containing unseat
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:
Opposition from just those two confederations is unlikely to be enough to unseat him, and so efforts are currently being made behind the scenes to convince countries elsewhere to join the rebellion.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
At one point, the rebels threatened to unseat the junta.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
They aim to unseat the mockingbird, which has held the top perch for 99 years, and crown the American flamingo state bird.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
Gen. Marissa Roy, who is looking to unseat Feldstein Soto.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
I must be careful of such dreams, for they would unseat one’s reason if there were too much of them.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
Cameron tried to neutralize that advantage of incumbency as he outlined his own policy priorities for Kentucky’s economy if he unseats Beshear in the November election.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 30, 2023
It’s unlikely that Nelson unseats Miller Moss as the Trojans’ No. 2 quarterback.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2023
Don’t be surprised if the magnetic Curry, who has four 40-point games already this season, unseats Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James as an all-star captain come February.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 2, 2021
Telling these stories unseats narratives that we can’t reach our full potential without leaving this place, or worst of all, that we don’t exist at all.
From Salon ● Jun. 23, 2018
The least brush against the gallery unseats a part of the family.
From The Wonders of Instinct Chapters in the Psychology of Insects by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos
A recent Ampere survey of of sports fans found that football has narrowly unseated baseball as the number three sport in the US, with 10% of Americans saying it's their favourite.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
Recall that a young upstart by the name of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unseated New York Rep. Joseph Crowley, a powerful 10-term incumbent and chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.
From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2026
Former city Comptroller Brad Lander unseated Rep. Dan Goldman in a district that spans lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
He was unseated by Jeff Koons' "Rabbit" a year later.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
Even though it was a donkey that unseated me, I learned that to humiliate another person is to make him suffer an unnecessarily cruel fate.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
There is no clear mechanism for unseating the regime.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
The debut of “Sinners” was triumphant, unseating “A Minecraft Movie” and topping the Easter weekend box office with $46.6 million domestically and $60 million globally while scoring rave reviews and an “A” ranking on Cinemascore.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2026
He is facing a tough reelection bid, as Herrera, a gun rights activist and YouTuber, takes another swing at the seat after almost unseating Gonzales in 2024.
From Salon ● Feb. 25, 2026
As fate would have it, playing alongside his own captain in Tom Latham some 17 years later, Conway on Thursday etched his name on to that record list, but fell short of unseating his hero.
From Barron's ● Dec. 18, 2025
After three days’ hearing, the trial resulted in the unseating of Sir Henry Stracey.
From Norfolk Annals A Chronological Record of Remarkable Events in the Nineteeth Century, Vol. 2 by Charles Mackie
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.
