encroach

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (2)  · 
“
The colonialists encroach, and after them the soldiers rush to the border.

View all »
Definitions (12)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. intransitive verb To take another's possessions or rights gradually or stealthily: encroach on a neighbor's land.
  2. intransitive verb To advance beyond proper or former limits: desert encroaching upon grassland.
  3. intransitive verb Football To commit encroachment.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • "But if the lake monster should encroach-" she said "It iv an enchanted path, iv it not?" —  Vale of the Vole
  • As he watched the shadows encroach, a frightening sight took shape in the center of the vortex. —  Witch Gate.htm
  • Most Dutch rarely mix with the Islamic population, fearing Islam will encroach upon the traditional values of Dutch identity.
  • Laws were created so people wouldn't encroach on the rights of others.
  • TiVo's newest form of advertising, which debuted a few months back on Series 2 units, has now begun to encroach on the Series 3 / TiVoHD platform. —  MyLinkVault Newest Links
More examples »
 

Tags

encroach hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 124 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English encrochen, to seize illegally, from Old French encrochier, to seize : en-, in; see en-1 + croc, hook (of Germanic origin).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Formerly also incroach; from Middle English encrochen, from Old French encrochier, encrocher, encrocier, encroquier, encrocquier (Middle Latin incrocare), seize upon, take, from en, in, + croc, a hook: see crook, and cf. accroach.
  2. from encroach, v.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ɛnˈkroʊtʃ/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a month.

Recently looked up

debuts-mini · pepper · Unequivocally · vaporized · parsimony

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

ultimatum · pew · deadpool · sad panda · nom nom nom