encroach
Americanverb (used without object)
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encroaches,
present (3rd person singular)
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encroached,
past participle, past
-
encroaching
present participle
-
to advance beyond proper, established, or usual limits; make gradual inroads.
A dictatorship of the majority is encroaching on the rights of the individual.
-
to trespass upon the property, domain, or rights of another, especially stealthily or by gradual advances.
verb
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to intrude gradually, stealthily, or insidiously upon the rights, property, etc, of another
-
to advance beyond the usual or proper limits
Synonym Usage
See trespass.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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encroachsimple
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encroachessimple
-
have encroachedperfect
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has encroachedperfect
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am encroachingprogressive
-
are encroachingprogressive
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is encroachingprogressive
-
have been encroachingperfect progressive
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has been encroachingperfect progressive
Past
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encroachedsimple
-
had encroachedperfect
-
was encroachingprogressive
-
were encroachingprogressive
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had been encroachingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of encroach
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English encrochen, from Anglo-French encrocher, Old French encrochier “to catch hold of, seize,” equivalent to en- en- 1 + -crochier, verbal derivative of croc “hook,” from Germanic; see crooked, crook 1
Explanation
To encroach is to overstep your bounds, to take over space or rights that belong to another, like your brother whose mess always encroaches on your side of the room you share. The verb encroach comes from the Old French word encrochier, meaning “seize, fasten on, catch with a hook.” If others slowly take over what belongs to you, they encroach, like people who encroach on your personal space at a crowded concert, or someone whose questions get more and more personal, which encroaches on your privacy.
Vocabulary lists containing encroach
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
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American Football, 3rd Quarter
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"A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner
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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.
See Examples For:
"We ask that Australia clarify how exactly 'harm' and 'risks' shall be determined... ensuring these definitions do not encroach on protected speech," the US said in its submission.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Books occupy a unique place within physical media — one of the last forms that does not track, monitor, or encroach on the humans who read them.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
“Now we’re able to encroach upon the eye time.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
She initially welcomed the project, before realising the airport would encroach on her land.
From Barron's ● May 18, 2026
Ivy held prior place in this lost garden, the long strands crept across the lawns, and soon would encroach upon the house itself.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
The Akal Takht says the law does not limit itself to criminalising acts of sacrilege but also encroaches on matters that should be decided by Sikh religious institutions.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
It has also begun the construction of a wall that encroaches on Lebanese territory, according to Unifil, the United Nations peacekeeping force.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025
Throughout the play, this “law and order” blue encroaches on the existence of every color selected by Torres.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2025
Agriculture, however, is also an important economic sector and often encroaches into unprotected tropical forest areas.
From Science Daily ● May 21, 2024
Since only 10 percent of thru-hikers make it this far, and it is too distant for most day hikers, the trail in Maine is much more thinly used, and so the foliage encroaches.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
"Are footpaths maintained and cleaned? Does the city ensure they aren't encroached upon?" he says.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
The meta-reality and meta-commentary of the broadcast encroached on and eventually overtook the game on the field.
From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2026
Although the technology has encroached on people’s everyday lives in small and large ways, this seemed to be a more egregious example of it in housing.
From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2025
By the 1860s, the U.S. government reduced the Crow’s land to a much smaller strip, and the park’s creation further encroached on tribal lands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025
The forest encroached on both sides, leaving the road ahead only discernible for a few meters as it twisted, serpentlike, around the ancient trees.
From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer
Mr. Theroux is deliciously dyspeptic, and he describes present-day books of travel as “lazy and imitative, celebrating the encroaching triviality of popular culture, or else unreadable for their flatulence and frivolity.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
This 2.5-inch lizard lives exclusively in the West Texas dunes, where oil and gas production has been encroaching on its territory, the groups argued.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
Gathering it all in one place makes it feel less like its encroaching on your life.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
Keeping the encroaching natural world at bay is a struggle in neighborhoods adjacent to Los Angeles County’s wildlands.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
She was to have been the answer to his unstated, unacknowledged question—where was the life to counter the encroaching nonlife?
From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
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.
