Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To seize (private property) for the public treasury.
- v. To seize by or as if by authority. See Synonyms at appropriate.
- adj. Seized by a government; appropriated.
- adj. Having lost property through confiscation.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To adjudge to be forfeited to the public treasury, as the goods or estate of a traitor or other criminal, by way of penalty; appropriate, by way of penalty, to public use.
- To take away from another by or as if by authority; appropriate summarily, as anything improperly held or obtained by another; seize as forfeited for any reason: as, to confiscate a book; the police confiscated a set of gambling implements.
- Forfeited and adjudged to the public treasury, as the goods of a criminal.
- Appropriated under legal authority as forfeited.
Wiktionary
- v. To take possession of by force or authority; expropriate.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Seized and appropriated by the government to the public use; forfeited.
- v. To seize as forfeited to the public treasury; to appropriate to the public use.
WordNet 3.0
- v. take temporary possession of as a security, by legal authority
- adj. surrendered as a penalty
Etymologies
- Latin cōnfiscāre, cōnfiscāt : com-, com- + fiscus, treasury.
Examples
“I believe the unproductive have no right to confiscate from the productive.”
Tax Cuts for the Rich, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“But Jesus never told people to confiscate from the rich and give to the poor, Robin Hood style.”
“That is why he is trying to spend every dollar he can confiscate from the American people.”
“A standard that allows him to 'confiscate' privately owned land ... with everybody knowing tha the biggest landlord has always been the government .. with everybody knowing that the new landlords are his family and party members”
“Ryan Denby, chief operations officer at Austin Rare Coins, Inc., says that some investors have become so afraid the federal government will "confiscate" bullion that they have been paying hundreds of dollars extra per ounce to buy gold coins instead.”
The Wall Street Journal: The Case for Investing in Foreign Currencies, Gold Funds
“The Port Authority replies the FAA has no right to "confiscate" the slots, which they claim as their own.”
“Here's a standard dictionary entry for "confiscate:”
“By definition, only a person acting with property authority, such as a police officer with a warrant, can "confiscate" property.”
“The parent did NOT "confiscate" the tape, he stole it.”
“I "confiscate" phones etc. that make noises during lecture, and perhaps that just sends it so "underground" they have to concentrate more on that task.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘confiscate’.
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kylenorth "Macroeconomics book"- Sep 22, 2010