confiscate
Syllables: con·fis·cateUK/ˈkɒnfɪskeɪt//ˈkɑnfəˌskeɪt/
confiscate verb: to use one's authority to lay claim to and separate a possession from its holder.
Verb
confiscate (third-person singular simple present confiscates, present participle confiscating, simple past and past participle confiscated)
- To use one's authority to lay claim to and separate a possession from its holder.
- In schools, it is common for teachers to confiscate electronic games and other distractions.
- We doe confiscate
(Towards the satisfying of your accounts)
All that you haue.c. 1613, John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, London: John Waterson, published 1623, Act III, Scene 2
- Synonyms:
- appropriate, arrogate, commandeer, expropriate, requisition, usurp, steal, rob
Adjective
confiscate (not comparable)
- Confiscated; seized and appropriated by the government for public use; forfeit.
- Therefore give out you are of Epidamnum, / Lest that your goods too soon be confiscate.c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- […] thy lands and goods / Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate / Unto the state of Venice.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
confiscate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
confiscate in Hindi
- take possession of by authority
- ज़ब्त करना zabt karnā
confiscate in Tamil
- take possession of by authority
- பிடுங்கு piṭuṅku, பறிமுதல் செய் paṟimutal cey, பறிமுதல் பண்ணு paṟimutal paṇṇu
confiscate in Urdu
- take possession of by authority
- قبضے میں لینا
confiscate in Bengali
- বাজেয়াপ্ত করা
More languagesFewer languages
- confiscate in Telugu
- జప్తు చేయు japtu cēyu
- confiscate in Malayalam
- കണ്ടുകെട്ടുക, ജപ്തിചെയ്യുക, കണക്കു കൂട്ടുക, ശിക്ഷയായി ആസ്ഥി കണ്ടുകെട്ടുക
- confiscate in Kannada
- ಸ್ವಾಧೀನಪಡಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳು, ವಶಪಡಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳು, ಮುಟ್ಟುಗೋಲು ಹಾಕು, ಜಪ್ತಿಮಾಡು
- confiscate in Arabic
- صَادَرَ ṣādara
- confiscate in Indonesian
- menyita
- confiscate in Persian
- ضبط کردن zabt kardan
- confiscate in Thai
- ยึด yʉ́t, ริบ ríp
- confiscate in Vietnamese
- tịch thâu, tịch thu
- confiscate in Myanmar
- သိမ်းပိုက် sim:puik
Examples of confiscate in a sentence
- Why, your cavalier is a rebel—an exile, whose property is confiscated, and for whose neck the gibbet stands prepared!1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry...
- They took photographs of the bodies, but these were confiscated on return to Baghdad, and orders were given that nothing was to be said of what they had seen.1937, Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana, London: Macmillan, Part 2, p. 46:
- But his grandson Francis, a Yorkist friend of Richard III, backed the wrong side in the Wars of the Roses and was declared a traitor by Henry VII, who confiscated his estates.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 286:
- Thy goods are confiscate unto the state, / Thy name is razed from out her records, […]1821, Lord Byron, Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice. An Historical Tragedy, in Five Acts. […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, Act V, scene...
Synonyms of confiscate
Forms of confiscate
| third-person singular present | confiscates |
|---|---|
| present participle | confiscating |
| past participle | confiscated |
| past | confiscated |
| alternative misspelling | confuscate |
Origin of confiscate
Borrowed from Latin cōnfiscātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin cōnfiscō (“to seize for the public treasury (fiscus)”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).
Words formed from confiscate
Questions about confiscate
- What does confiscate mean?
- Confiscate means to use one's authority to lay claim to and separate a possession from its holder.
- What is confiscate in Hindi?
- Confiscate in Hindi is ज़ब्त करना (zabt karnā). See Confiscate meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use confiscate in a sentence?
- Why, your cavalier is a rebel—an exile, whose property is confiscated, and for whose neck the gibbet stands prepared!
- What part of speech is confiscate?
- Confiscate can be a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce confiscate?
- Confiscate is pronounced /ˈkɒnfɪskeɪt/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of confiscate?
- The past tense of confiscate is confiscated.
Words near confiscate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: confiscate (page history and authors); confiscate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); confiscate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); confiscate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-confiscate.ogg.
Cite this entry: “confiscate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/confiscate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.