arrogate

American  

[ar-uh-geyt] / 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  

/ əˈrɒɡətɪv, 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

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

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 Arndt, Johann

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

What is it that arrogates that authority to someone else?

From Time Magazine Archive

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

And yet he arrogates to himself the nature and the functions, as he makes upon us the demands, of the supreme Deity.

From India, Its Life and Thought by Jones, John P. (John Peter)

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

After Cromwell, England became a place where lay power trumped religious authority, and Parliament ultimately arrogated the job of determining the official doctrine and liturgy of the kingdom.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 14, 2018

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

If they ever became a real distinction and variety of life, if they arrogated to themselves an absolute liberty, they would shatter the unity of the democratic spirit and destroy its moral authority.

From Character and Opinion in the United States by Santayana, George

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

From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2025

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

From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2025

In the absence of scriptural texts that established unarguable institutional authority, clerical elites succeeded in arrogating to themselves exclusive control over interpretation of the Divine intent.

From One Common Faith by Baha'i International Community

Smile, if you will, at my presumption in arrogating the place of a feminine Arnold von Winkelried, breaking a path for our spiritual freedom through the lances of contempt and prejudice.

From Only a Girl: or, A Physician for the Soul. by Hillern, Wilhelmine von

The real trouble with arrogating to ourselves the privileges of parenthood is that our native instincts are likely to become deflected by the substitution of the artificial for the natural responsibility.

From Turn About Eleanor by Cootes, F. Graham