Meaning

To seize and hold or use (powers, an office, a coat of arms, a right or copyright, etc) from another, without right (usually by illegitimate means)..

Definitions by Sense

1. To seize and hold or use (powers, an office, a coat of arms, a right or copyright, etc) from another, without right (usually by illegitimate means).
2. To take the place the place of someone or something else; to supplant.
3. (obsolete) To make use of.

Example Sentences

[S]o he dies, But soon revives, Death over him no power Shall long usurp […]

[…] usurped or took any name or title of honor or dignity. In many cases it happened that persons who had usurped arms without authority, entered their names […]

In this case, you have usurped the copyright owner's reasonably expected right to make a derivative work[.]

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.

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 muſt ſtand firſt Champion for my ſelfe, / Againſt all interpoſers.

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, that he usurped a freedom with his betters, to which he was by no means intitled.

The recent authorities have usefully drawn attention to the need to ensure that any assessment of the merits of a case does not usurp careful attention to the criteria in section 10(9), to which we now turn.

"[…] 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 […]"

Word Forms

• usurps
• usurping
• usurped

Synonyms for usurp

Related Words

When Should You Use Usurp?

Use usurp when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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