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.
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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
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have encroachedperfect
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has encroachedperfect
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am encroachingprogressive
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are encroachingprogressive
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is encroachingprogressive
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have been encroachingperfect progressive
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has been encroachingperfect progressive
Past
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encroachedsimple
-
had encroachedperfect
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was encroachingprogressive
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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:
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
In recent years, there has been an uptick in bears wandering into foothill neighborhoods as humans continue to encroach on bear territory.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026
They have been a part of the city landscape since the 1930s, when urban sprawl began to encroach on their rural territory.
From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026
He warns that humanoid robots might encroach on the manual-labor jobs some see as AI-proof.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2026
Under Sevier’s leadership, Franklin continued to encroach on Chickamauga lands.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
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 also has 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. 23, 2025
Her plan also encroaches on land owned by the Catholic Archdiocese, which is reserving it for fexpansion of Holy Cross Cemetery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2025
New research shows how the world's oases have grown and shrunk over the past 25 years as water availability patterns changed and desertification encroaches on these wet refuges.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 22, 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
The meta-reality and meta-commentary of the broadcast encroached on and eventually overtook the game on the field.
From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2026
However, his groundbreaking TV series Twin Peaks remained for many his greatest work - portraying an idyllic American small town encroached by a chaotic unconscious world.
From BBC ● Dec. 31, 2025
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
Moss encroached upon the raised letters and I didn’t read the whole plaque.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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
And developers have been encroaching on the peaceful coastal village, but "we're still resisting them", she said.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 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
To accommodate the dances, the Osage had erected, amid the encroaching wilderness, a pavilion, with a mushroom-shaped metal roof and a circular earth floor surrounded by concentric rows of wooden benches.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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.
