USURP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does usurp mean? 

• USURP (verb)
  The verb USURP has 2 senses:

1. seize and take control without authority and possibly with force; take as one's right or possession

2. take the place of

  Familiarity information: USURP used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• USURP (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they usurp    ... he / she / it usurps   
Past simple: usurped   
Past participle: usurped   
-ing form: usurping   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Seize and take control without authority and possibly with force; take as one's right or possession

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

arrogate; assume; seize; take over; usurp

Context example:

She seized control of the throne after her husband died

Hypernyms (to "usurp" is one way to...):

take (take by force)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "usurp"):

annex (take (territory) as if by conquest)

appropriate; capture; conquer; seize (take possession of by force, as after an invasion)

preoccupy (occupy or take possession of beforehand or before another or appropriate for use in advance)

hijack (seize control of)

raid (take over (a company) by buying a controlling interest of its stock)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

usurpation (wrongfully seizing and holding (an office or powers) by force (especially the seizure of a throne or supreme authority))

usurper (one who wrongfully or illegally seizes and holds the place of another)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Take the place of

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

gloom had usurped mirth at the party after the news of the terrorist act broke

Hypernyms (to "usurp" is one way to...):

replace; supersede; supervene upon; supplant (take the place or move into the position of)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

 Context examples 

He referred to the young fellow whose place he had usurped that day.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

For the last time in his life he allowed passion to usurp cunning and reason, and it was because of his great love for John Thornton that he lost his head.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Being pushed unceremoniously to one side—which was precisely what I wished—he usurped my place, and proceeded to accompany himself: for he could play as well as sing. I hied me to the window-recess.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“You are usurping one of my prerogatives. You know you I agreed that the cooking should be mine, and—”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

This was the shocking thing; that the slime of the pit seemed to utter cries and voices; that the amorphous dust gesticulated and sinned; that what was dead, and had no shape, should usurp the offices of life.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Sensation usurped reason, and he was quivering and palpitant with emotions he had never known, drifting deliciously on a sea of sensibility where feeling itself was exalted and spiritualized and carried beyond the summits of life.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It was enough that in yonder closet, opposite my dressing-table, garments said to be hers had already displaced my black stuff Lowood frock and straw bonnet: for not to me appertained that suit of wedding raiment; the pearl-coloured robe, the vapoury veil pendent from the usurped portmanteau.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)