usurper

[ yoo-sur-per, -zur‐ ]

noun

1. someone who seizes an office or position of power by force or without legal right, or who is perceived to have done so:

   The usurper Vitigis gathered his army together and laid siege to Rome.

Word History and Origins

Origin of usurper¹

First recorded in 1400–50; usurp ( def ) + -er ¹( def )

Example Sentences

His supporters spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on negative mailers and ads casting Jurado as everything from a puppet of outside interests to a usurper who would end nearly 40 years of Latino representation in the district.

From Los Angeles Times

He’d recently been instructed to sign a request for a presidential pardon but refused to beg for mercy from Vladimir Putin, who he denounces as “a dictator, usurper and a murderer”.

From BBC

As the manor devolves into something like “Lord of the Flies,” our hedonistic interloper uses this opening to become a usurper.

From Los Angeles Times

The Republican Party under Trump — and someday soon under Vance or some other heir or usurper — isn’t really a party and has no guiding ideology or sense of its own history.

From Salon

“First of all we have to expel the usurpers, secondly we should make them pay the cost for all the damages they have created, and thirdly, we have to bring to justice the oppressor and usurper,” he said.

From Seattle Times

Related Words

• authoritarian
• autocrat
• commander
• despot
• totalitarian
• tyrant