usurp
English
Etymology
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French usurper, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin ūsūrpāre. Equivalent to use + rape.
Pronunciation
Verb
usurp (third-person singular simple present usurps, present participle usurping, simple past and past participle usurped)
- To seize power from another, usually by illegitimate means.
- To use and assume the coat of arms of another person.
- To take the place rightfully belonging to someone or something else.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
- Jones answered all his questions with much civility, though he never remembered to have seen the petty-fogger before; and though he concluded, from the outward appearance and behaviour of the man, that he usurped a freedom with his betters, to which he was by no means intitled.
- (obsolete) To make use of.
- 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Appendix, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 149:
- " […] especially considering that even Matter it self, in which they tumble and wallow, which they feel with their hands and usurp with all their Senses […] "
- 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Appendix, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 149:
Related terms
Translations
seize power
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