usurp

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A counterfeit, which no stamping by good writers or universality of circulation will ever be able to introduce into the family circle of honest English as a substitute for the robust Saxon word whose place it would usurp--_trustworthy_.

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Definitions (11)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. transitive verb To seize and hold (the power or rights of another, for example) by force or without legal authority. See Synonyms at appropriate.
  2. transitive verb To take over or occupy without right: usurp a neighbor's land.
  3. transitive verb To take the place of (another) without legal authority; supplant.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

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

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Examples (50)

  • In size, habits, and the form of many parts of its body, it bears a striking resemblance to its South American cousin the "tamanoir" (_Myrmecophaga jubata_), which of late years has become so famous as almost to usurp the title of "ant-eater." —  The Bush Boys History and Adventures of a Cape Farmer and his Family
  • "[779] In the Kongelov it was made lčse-majesté in any manner to usurp or infringe the king's absolute authority; it was asserted that the moment the sovereign ascends the throne crown and scepter are vested in him by his own right; and the sole obligation of the king was affirmed to be to maintain the indivisibility of the realm, to preserve the Christian faith in accordance with the Augsburg Confession, and to execute faithfully all of the provisions of the Kongelov itself. —  The Governments of Europe
  • This arrangement agrees with the provision (_CIA_, I, 32) that the monies of Athena be cared for έv those of the other gods έv τω e Until the completion of the Parthenon the opisthodomos of the pre-Persian temple might properly be the opisthodomos but so soon as the Parthenon was finished, the new treasure-house would naturally usurp the name as well as the functions of its predecessor Footnote 22: A general view of these transmission-lists may be found at the back of MICHAELIS' der Parthenon_: See also H LEHNER, Ueber die attischen Schatzverzeichnisse des vierten Jahrhunderts (which Lolling cites. —  The American Journal of Archaeology, 1893-1
  • Only when it usurps, or foolishly attempts to usurp, the office of more than a temporary alleviation; when it affects to set up as an atheistic panacea; when it professes to walk as an abiding companion, lighting you on your way with injurious gleams (as that dreadful figure in Dante, who lanterns his path by the glaring eyes of his own truncated head); and when it ceases to become merely the casual scintillation, the flitting ignus fatuus of a summer evening--then only is wit to be condemned. —  An Author's Mind : The Book of Title-pages
  • Even sovereignty has its limitations and overthrow; this is a kingship and dominion which none may usurp or destroy. —  A Compilaton on Scholarship
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Used in the same contextWord Family

usurp:   usurping ·  usurped
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English usurpen, from Old French usurper, from Latin ūsūrpāre, to take into use, usurp; see reup- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from French usurper = Spanish Portuguese usurpar = Italian usurpare, from Latin usurpare, make use of, use, assume, take possession of, usurp, perhaps orig. usu rapere, seize to (one's own) use: usu, ablative of usus, use; rapere, seize: see use and rap.
 

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/juˈzərp/
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