arrogate

American  

[ar-uh-gayt] / ˈær əˌgeɪt /

verb (used with object)

• arrogates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• arrogated,
  past participle,  past
• arrogating
  present participle

1. to claim unwarrantably or presumptuously; assume or appropriate to oneself without right.

   to arrogate the right to make decisions.

2. to attribute or assign to another; ascribe.

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arrogate British  

/ ˈærəˌɡeɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to claim or appropriate for oneself presumptuously or without justification

2. (tr) to attribute or assign to another without justification

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• arrogation
  noun
• arrogator
  noun
• arrogative
  adjective
• unarrogated
  adjective
• unarrogating
  adjective
• arrogatingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• arrogating
  present
• arrogated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• arrogate
  simple
• arrogates
  simple
• have arrogated
  perfect
• has arrogated
  perfect
• am arrogating
  progressive
• are arrogating
  progressive
• is arrogating
  progressive
• have been arrogating
  perfect progressive
• has been arrogating
  perfect progressive

Past

• arrogated
  simple
• had arrogated
  perfect
• was arrogating
  progressive
• were arrogating
  progressive
• had been arrogating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will arrogate
  simple
• will have arrogated
  perfect
• will be arrogating
  progressive
• will have been arrogating
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of arrogate

1530–40; < Latin arrogātus appropriated, assumed, questioned (past participle of arrogāre ), equivalent to arrog- ( ar- ar- + rog ( āre ) to ask, propose) + -ātus -ate ¹

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Explanation

To arrogate is to take over. When the teacher steps out of the classroom and some bossy student marches up to the front of the class and begins scolding the other kids? The student is trying to arrogate the teacher's authority. When someone takes control of something, often without permission, such as when a military general assumes the power of a country's government after getting rid of the previous leader, they arrogate power or control to themselves. Occasionally the verb arrogate means something like "assert one's right to," or take something that is deserved, but more often it implies a taking by force.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

arrogate arrogates arrogated arrogating

“Shortly thereafter, John embarked on a series of steps to arrogate to himself complete control over Mr. Angelos’ assets.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 10, 2022

They are truly generative, an apt term for a novel that queries a selfish inventor, his damaged creature and science’s threat to arrogate creation to itself.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2018

Judge Jackson said the action was “a stunning power for an agency to arrogate to itself” that the law did not support.

From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 2012

"It does not appear logical that a man of his intellect and management skills would arrogate unto himself the responsibility of making a monumental decision affecting the President."

From Time Magazine Archive

No. There is nothing therefore that thou canst arrogate to thyself, or ascribe to thy own ability.

From True Christianity by Johann Arndt

The rapid team collapse was head-spinning news not only in Australia but also among worldwide fans of cricket, a sport that arrogates to itself a particular moral sanctimony.

From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2018

As such, it has been subject to attack time immemorial from every agency that fears new truth, or that arrogates to itself the exclusive possession of particular areas of truth.

From Time Magazine Archive

Where the Olympic Charter goes astray is on the very next page, on which the IOC arrogates for itself Supreme Authority.

From Time Magazine Archive

What is it that arrogates that authority to someone else?

From Time Magazine Archive

You have perceived how this ambitious man arrogates to himself the office of the high priest.

From King of the Jews A story of Christ's last days on Earth by William T. Stead

Today, we have a priest who has disbanded the pastoral council and arrogated governance to himself and his staff.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 8, 2023

To Covington & Burling, the answer was clear: it lay with Congress, and, if Trump arrogated that power to himself, the firm was prepared to take on a lawsuit pro bono.

From The New Yorker ● Sep. 24, 2018

He had arrogated to himself the privilege to call, and to assume the president would take his call.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 28, 2018

“Yet in this case, Congress arrogated that power to itself.”

From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2016

These did not fail soon to pour in: the Saxon clergy, over whom he had arrogated a right of investiture, appeared as his principal accusers.

From Secret Societies of the Middle Ages by Thomas Keightley

So, of course, it’s not just that he’s arrogating the piggy bank to himself.

From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2025

He’s also arrogating actual facts to himself, which makes this triply scary.

From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2025

The Curators, or a majority of them, did not dream of arrogating to themselves the power of lending, and they, as well as the applicant, assume as self-evident that books could not be borrowed.

From Remarks on the practice and policy of lending Bodleian printed books and manuscripts by Henry W. Chandler

Simon, indeed, crazed by his incantations and ecstasies, developed megalomania in an acute form, arrogating to himself divine honours and aspiring to the adoration of the whole world.

From Secret Societies And Subversive Movements by Nesta H. Webster

All before that time is founded on poetical embellishment, the speculations of theorists, or national vanity arrogating to itself a Trojan, a Grecian, or even a divine original.

From History of Roman Literature from its Earliest Period to the Augustan Age. Volume I by John Dunlop

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