Past tense of usurp
regular verb
The past tense of usurp is usurped. The past participle is also usurped.
Forms of usurp
| Base form (V1) | usurp /juˈsɝp/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | usurped |
| Past participle (V3) | usurped |
| Present participle | usurping /juːˈsɜː(ɹ)pɪŋ/ |
| Third person singular | usurps |
Usurped in a sentence
- The kingdom was usurped by the king's cousin.From the entry usurped
- In our third example, the tyrant Nabis usurped power from the traditional, dual basileis of Sparta, then had them executed.2017, Michael Martin, City of the Sun: Development and Popular Resistance in the Pre-Modern West, New York, N.Y.: Algora Publishing…. From the entry basileus
- Thus Aurobindo Ghose stated that the puritanical, pharisaical British conquered in the name of liberty and usurped under the cloak of altruism.2012, Piers Brendon, ‘Beginning the Dissent’, Literary Review, volume 401. From the entry pharisaical
- This divine site of the nativity has been villainly usurped by the schismatic Greeks, and now the Catholic priest is forbidden to say Mass thereat.1960, Impresiones de un viajero: viaje por varios paises del Oriente, Europa, Tierra Santa y Norteamerica, 1958, Jaro, Iloilo City…. From the entry villainly
- K'ang Hi not only refused to listen to this request, but he also commanded him to retire from his territories and also from Tsing-hai, which he had unlawfully usurped.1906, J. MacGowan, The Imperial History of China, 2nd edition, Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press, →OCLC, page 534. From the entry Tsing-hai
Meaning of usurp
- verb 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).
- verb To take the place of someone or something else; to supplant.
- verb To make use of.
Questions about the past tense of usurp
- What is the past tense of usurp?
- The past tense of usurp is usurped.
- What is the past participle of usurp?
- The past participle of usurp is usurped.
- Is usurp a regular or irregular verb?
- Usurp is a regular verb: its past tense adds -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: usurp (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Past tense of usurp.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/usurp. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.