Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use confiscate in a sentence

21 example sentences · verb, adjective

Confiscate means to use one's authority to lay claim to and separate a possession from its holder. Example: “In schools, it is common for teachers to confiscate electronic games and other distractions.”

Examples of confiscate by meaning

verbTo 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.
  • 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

More sentences with confiscate

  • Airport security looked through her purse and confiscated her nail scissors.From the entry look through
  • Their property was seized, denuded and confiscated.From the entry denude
  • The Supreme Court confiscated half of Thaksin Shinawatra's fortune after finding that, while being Prime Minister, he held shares in commercial companies through nominees.From the entry nominee
  • And outlawing these AR-15s would not require confiscating them from people who already have them.2022 June 5, Michael Fanone, “Opinion: Here’s the reason people tell me they want to buy an AR-15. And it’s simply ludicrous”, in CNN…. From the entry outlaw
  • Son groups, conjuntos, caught playing on the street, as was the tradition, had their instruments confiscated.2017, Mark Kurlansky, Havana: A Subtropical Delirium, Bloomsbury, →ISBN. From the entry son
  • He turned his attention back to the radio he'd confiscated from Tatiana Morozova’s flat.2016, Ian Tregillis, Radio Free Tresmigistus (The Witch Who Came in from the Cold, season one, episode 07)), Serial Box, →ISBN. From the entry queenward
  • “You can work on it only if you're supervised.” Even the Oil of Olay moisturizer is confiscated.2012, Elizabeth Flock, But Inside I'm Screaming. From the entry upspeak
  • Then the nurturer of grassroots street cricket runs out into the street, screaming, and confiscates the ball.2011, Shehan Karunatilaka, Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew, Jonathan Cape, pages 194-195. From the entry nurturer
  • 'A dooker, one I confiscated many years ago from a workman here.1992, Tom Morton, Spirit of Adventure: A Journey Beyond the Whisky Trails, Edinburgh; London: Mainstream Publishing, →ISBN, pages 81–82. From the entry dooker
  • The Chang-hua managers, for instance, sometimes confiscated the properties of wealthy inhabitants who had fled the scene.1970, Leonard H. D. Gordon, editor, Taiwan : Studies in Chinese Local History, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 41. From the entry Chang-hua
  • If they see you're wearing a watch, they confiscate it,” said one fisherman, standing on the deck of the rickety boat.2016 November 18, Anna Fifield, “China is putting the squeeze on North Korea. But for how long?”, in The Washington Post (Asia & Pacific…. From the entry Donggang
  • When the Olympic torch started out from Plymouth, LOCOG officials confiscated leaflets advertising an Olympic breakfast at a local café.2012, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords, The Parliamentary Debates (Hansard).: House of Lords official report. From the entry Olympic breakfast
  • Police said they acted on a tip, arrested the brothers at home and confiscated some “red devil” (barbiturate) capsules.1964 June 16, “Charges Changed in Brothers’ Cases”, in The Indianapolis Star, volume 62, number 11, Indianapolis, Ind., page 3. From the entry red devil
  • Three days later, near Samshui (twenty-five miles from Canton) the rest of the cargo was confiscated by another band of agents.1958, Arthur Waley, The Opium War through Chinese Eyes, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., published 1973, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 105. From the entry Samshui
  • The expenses of the war, while in progress, were defrayed by executing rich men and confiscating their property.1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.29. From the entry defray
  • Before screaming “Fire in the hole!” and detonating a cache of confiscated fireworks on a residential street two years ago, Los Angeles police Det.2023 July 14, Brittney Mejia, Libor Jany, Richard Winton, “LAPD refused to ID officers behind a huge fireworks explosion. Now we have…. From the entry fire in the hole
  • When this came to pass, the property of all those who were not colorums would be confiscated and apportioned among the members.1975, Renato Constantino, The Philippines: A Past Revisited, page 350. From the entry colorum
  • Chang Kia-ngau learns that Soviet troops have confiscated all documents belonging to the Kuomintang (KMT) party branch headquarters in Ch’ang-ch’un and have terminated that unit's activities.1989, Dolores Zen, transl., Last Chance in Manchuria, Hoover Institution Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 71. From the entry Ying-k'ou

Meaning of confiscate

  1. verb To use one's authority to lay claim to and separate a possession from its holder.
  2. adjective Confiscated; seized and appropriated by the government for public use; forfeit.

Full definition of confiscate

Questions about confiscate in a sentence

How do you use confiscate in a sentence?
Confiscate is used as a verb and adjective. For example: “In schools, it is common for teachers to confiscate electronic games and other distractions.”
What is a short sentence with confiscate?
“Their property was seized, denuded and confiscated.”
What does confiscate mean?
Confiscate means to use one's authority to lay claim to and separate a possession from its holder.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: confiscate (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use confiscate in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/confiscate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.