were usurping

• past progressive

  past progressive

  Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.

  of usurp.
  usurp

  verb (used with object)

  to seize and hold (a position, office, power, etc.) by force or without legal right.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

were usurping

The bike stations were usurping parking spots — churches depend on street parking.

From New York Times ● Apr. 27, 2013

Furious Giraudists charged that the Fighting French were usurping power, plotting a coup.

From Time Magazine Archive

It would not do to make him feel as if his mother were usurping his place.

From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin

Somewhat later he was sent to Balacbac, but remained there but a short time because of the complaints of the Recollects, who claimed that the Dominicans were usurping their territory.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume 41 of 55, 1691-1700 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century. by Emma Helen Blair

Interviews were held between the Mexican authorities and our officers, in which the latter were ordered to retire from the soil it was alleged they were usurping.

From Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican Vol. 1 of 2 A Historical, Geographical, Political, Statistical and Social Account of That Country From the Period of the Invasion by the Spaniards to the Present Time; With a View of the Ancient Aztec Empire and Civilization; A Historical Sketch of the Late War; And Notices of New Mexico and California by Brantz Mayer

Related Words

• annex
• preempt
• supplant
• wrest