usurp

English

Etymology

From Middle English usurpen, from Old French usurper, from Latin ūsūrpō.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /juˈsɝp/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /juːˈzɜːp/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)p

Verb

usurp (third-person singular simple present usurps, present participle usurping, simple past and past participle usurped)

1. To seize power from another, usually by illegitimate means.
   • 1674, John Milton, “Book XII”, in Paradise Lost. […], 2nd edition, London: […] S[amuel] Simmons […], →OCLC, page 326:

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

2. To use and assume the coat of arms of another person.
3. To take the place rightfully belonging to someone or something else.
   • c. 1619–1623, John Ford, “The Lawes of Candy”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 52, column 1:

     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.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:

     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.

4. (obsolete) To make use of.
   • 1653, Henry More, “appendix”, in An Antidote against Atheisme, or An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether There Be Not a God, London: […] Roger Daniel, […], →OCLC:

     " […] 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 […] "

Related terms

• usurpation
• usurper

Translations

seize power

• Belarusian: узурпі́раваць impf or pf (uzurpíravacʹ)
• Bulgarian: узурпи́рам (bg) impf or pf (uzurpíram), загра́бвам (bg) impf (zagrábvam), присвоя́вам си (bg) impf (prisvojávam si)
• Catalan: usurpar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 篡奪／篡夺 (zh) (cuànduó)

• Czech: uzurpovat impf or pf, uchvátit pf
• Dutch: zich toe-eigenen (nl), usurperen (nl)
• Esperanto: uzurpi (eo), akapari
• Finnish: kaapata (fi), anastaa valta
• French: usurper (fr)
• Galician: usurpar (gl)
• German: usurpieren (de)
• Greek: σφετερίζομαι (el) (sfeterízomai)
• Hungarian: bitorol (hu)
• Icelandic: hrifsa völd, taka yfir, ræna völdum
• Ido: uzurpar (io)
• Irish: forghabh
• Italian: usurpare (it)
• Japanese: 簒奪する (ja) (さんだつする, sandatsu suru)
• Korean: 찬탈하다 (ko) (chantalhada)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: زەوت کردن (zewt kirdin)

• Latin: ūsurpō (la)
• Macedonian: узурпи́ра impf or pf (uzurpíra)
• Maori: kōwhaki mana
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: usurpere

• Occitan: usurpar (oc)
• Old English: āgnettan
• Polish: uzurpować (pl) impf or pf
• Portuguese: usurpar (pt)
• Romanian: uzurpa (ro), răpi (ro)
• Russian: узурпи́ровать (ru) impf or pf (uzurpírovatʹ), присва́ивать себе́ (ru) impf (prisváivatʹ sebé), присво́ить себе́ (ru) pf (prisvóitʹ sebé)
• Slovak: uzurpovať impf or pf
• Slovene: uzurpirati impf or pf
• Spanish: usurpar (es)
• Swedish: usurpera (sv), tillskansa sig, inkräkta på, bemäktiga sig
• Telugu: అన్యాయముగా ఆక్రమించుకొను (anyāyamugā ākramiñcukonu)
• Turkish: gasbetmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: узурпува́ти impf or pf (uzurpuváty)
• Yiddish: אוזורפּירן (uzurpirn)

See also

• appropriate