usurp

[ yoo-surp, -zurp ]

verb (used with object)

1. to seize and hold (a position, office, power, etc.) by force or without legal right:

   The pretender tried to usurp the throne.

2. to use without authority or right; employ wrongfully:

   The magazine usurped copyrighted material.

verb (used without object)

1. to commit forcible or illegal seizure of an office, power, etc.; encroach.

usurp

/ juːˈzɜːp /

verb

1. to seize, take over, or appropriate (land, a throne, etc) without authority

Derived Forms

• ˌusurˈpation, noun
• uˈsurper, noun
• uˈsurpative, adjective

Other Words From

• u·surp·er noun
• u·surp·ing·ly adverb
• non·u·surp·ing adjective
• non·u·surp·ing·ly adverb
• self-u·surp verb (used without object)
• un·u·surp·ing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of usurp¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Latin ūsūrpāre “to take possession through use,” equivalent to ūsū (ablative of ūsus “act of using, employment” ( use ) + -rp-, reduced form of -rip-, combining form of rapere “to seize” + -āre infinitive ending

Word History and Origins

Origin of usurp¹

C14: from Old French usurper, from Latin ūsūrpāre to take into use, probably from ūsus use + rapere to seize

Example Sentences

I think Trump is a maniacal megalomaniac and would try to usurp the democratic process, not unlike Hitler or Mussolini.

From Slate

Sharing those details marked her “unilateral decision to usurp” the Mississippi court’s authority, he said.

From Los Angeles Times

“It’s hard to move the ball against those guys,” said Heinicke, who learned the playbook in three weeks to usurp incumbent backup Easton Stick after joining the team in a post-training camp trade.

From Los Angeles Times

When Jane and Lenny finally land in the gleaming, empty home of her grad school friend Brett, a successful screenwriter, she ditches the book and hatches a plan to usurp some of Brett’s Hollywood pixie dust by talking her way into the good graces of a Black TV producer, Hampton Ford, who is desperate for “a show with a premium vibe … the Jackie Robinson of biracial comedies.”

From Los Angeles Times

On the other hand, he trusted his most faithful lapdog, former Vice President Mike Pence, to follow his orders to usurp the Constitution and look where it got him.

From Salon

Related Words

• annex
• preempt
• supplant
• wrest