dispossess

American  

[dis-puh-zes] / ˌdɪs pəˈzɛs /

verb (used with object)

1. to put (a person) out of possession, especially of real property; oust.

2. to banish.

3. to abandon ownership of (a building), especially as a bad investment.

   Landlords have dispossessed many old tenement buildings.

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dispossess British  

/ ˌdɪspəˈzɛs /

verb

1. (tr) to take away possession of something, esp property; expel

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Related Words

See strip ¹.

Other Word Forms

• dispossession noun
• dispossessor noun
• dispossessory adjective

Etymology

Origin of dispossess

First recorded in 1425–75; dis- ¹ + possess; replacing Middle English disposseden, equivalent to dis- ¹ + posseden (from Old French posseder ), from Latin possidēre; possess

Example Sentences

Somebody was bound to stay with us, but I didn’t usually get dispossessed.

From Literature

Abdulmejid thus became, uniquely, the caliph of the Turkish Republic and the only caliph not to be sultan—until he, too, was dispossessed and exiled in 1924.

From The Wall Street Journal

With six minutes of regular time remaining, he dispossessed an opponent, surged forward and coolly fired the ball into the net.

From Barron's

"Hold On to Me" from Cyprus traces the efforts of an 11-year-old tracking down her estranged father, while documentary "Kikuyu Land" from Kenya examines how powerful outside forces use local corruption to dispossess a people.

From Barron's

Goldblatt’s pictures from before these events are touristic and from afterward elegiac; particularly moving are his portraits of the dispossessed, showing their bitterness and their dignity.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• evict