/juˈsɝp/, /juːˈzɜːp/
OriginFrom Middle English usurpen, from Old French usurper, from Latin ūsūrpō (ūsus use + rapiō seize).
- To seize power from another, usually by illegitimate means.
“[S]o he dies,
But soon revives, Death over him no power
Shall long usurp […]”
“Most Republicans in Congress are complying as Mr. Trump usurps the power of the national legislature, as laid out in Article 1 of the Constitution.”
- To use and assume the coat of arms of another person.
- To take the place rightfully belonging to someone or something else.
“But if now / You ſhould (as cruell fathers do) proclame / Your right, and Tyrant like uſurp the glory / Of my peculiar honours, not deriv'd / From ſucceſſary, but purchas'd with my bloud, / Then I muſ”
“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, tha”
- obsoleteTo make use of.
“"[…] 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 […]"”
Formsusurps(present, singular, third-person) · usurping(participle, present) · usurped(participle, past) · usurped(past)