seized

[ seezd ]

adjective

1. taken hold, possession, or control of, as by force or legal authority; confiscated, captured, or appropriated:

   Police say the seized property includes knives, computer equipment, a balaclava, and military clothing.

   Settlers were observed planting olive trees on illegally seized land.

2. (of an opportunity) taken advantage of promptly:

   Everything that Mom and I had accomplished was rooted firmly in the soil of hard work and seized opportunities.

3. (of moving parts) locked or jammed, as from excessive friction (often followed by up ):

   I gladly pay top dollar for lubricants and fluids, because I know it's far more expensive to have to rebuild a seized engine!

4. having ceased to function; having come to a halt (often followed by up ):

   Businesses need to access credit lines to function, but now the credit market is totally seized up.

5. fully understood; mentally grasped:

   People who need cognitive closure will absorb a statement early in the process of acquiring knowledge, "freeze" on that seized idea, and resist further information.

6. (of melted chocolate) grainy and clumpy from overheating or from contact with a small amount of moisture:

   To reverse the reaction, add more liquid, but just enough to dissolve most of the sugar and cocoa particles in the seized chocolate clumps.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of seize.

Other Words From

• un·seized adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of seized¹

seize ( def ) + -ed ²( def )

Example Sentences

This is where Macklin and other counterterrorism experts warn the United States could be headed: The harsher and more challenging the environment gets and the more destructive and expensive the impacts become, the more climate change may be seized as the dominion of the right.

From Salon

In April 2022, the German federal police, acting on information from their American colleagues, seized the servers hosting Hydra, replacing its banner with their logo and retrieving $25 million in Bitcoin.

From Salon

Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, armed gangs have seized power in many areas, leading to a spike in street violence in the poorest country in the Americas.

From BBC

Marshals Service awarded Coinbase the $7-million, one-year contract to help manage the government’s hoard of seized crypto assets in July.

From Los Angeles Times

The gist of Grewal’s argument is that the funding for Coinbase’s contract comes from seized crypto assets in the Justice Department’s Assets Forfeiture Fund, not from congressional appropriations.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• captured