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

The Fremen, whose home planet is Arrakis, where Spice is mined, bedevil the miners and the troops that protect them and, as the indigenous population battling imperial usurpers, are the faction you should root for.

From Los Angeles Times

Luckily the voters have managed to keep the most powerful would-be usurpers out of office and Congress set up some serious roadblocks.

From Salon

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

If you leave your sunbed for too long, your possessions are unceremoniously turfed to make space for the long queue of would-be usurpers.

From BBC

Related Words

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