Word.ws English Dictionary

usurp

UK/juːˈzɜːp//juˈsɝp/

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

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

  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).
    • [S]o he dies,
      But soon revives, Death over him no power
      Shall long usurp […]1674, John Milton, “Book XII”, in Paradise Lost. […], 2nd edition, London: […] S[amuel] Simmons […], →OCLC, page 326
    • […] 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 […]1848, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, page 343
  2. To take the place of someone or something else; to supplant.
    • 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.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...
    • 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.1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC
  3. (obsolete) To make use of.
    • "[…] 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 […]"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

usurp meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu

usurp in Tamil

உரிமை பெறு, உரிமையின்றிக் கைக்கொள, கைப்பற்று, வன்முறை, அதிகாரம் பெறு, தகாவழி

usurp in Urdu

غصب کرنا, ہڑپ کرنا, قبضہ کرنا

usurp in Bengali

ব্যবহার করা

usurp in Telugu

seize power
అన్యాయముగా ఆక్రమించుకొను anyāyamugā ākramiñcukonu
More languagesFewer languages
usurp in Malayalam
ആക്രമിച്ചെടുക്കുക, കൈയൂക്കുകൊണ്ട് പിടിച്ചെടുക്കുക
usurp in Kannada
ದುರಾಕ್ರಮಣ ಮಾಡು, ಹಕ್ಕಿಲ್ಲದೆ ಆಕ್ರಮಿಸು, ಅನ್ಯಾಯವಾಗಿ ವಶಪಡಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳು, ಕಿತ್ತುಕೊಳ್ಳು
usurp in Arabic
اِغْتَصَبَ iḡtaṣaba, اِسْتَوْلَى istawlā, اِسْتَحْوَذَ istaḥwaḏa, اِنْتَزَعَ intazaʕa

Examples of usurp in a sentence

  • In this case, you have usurped the copyright owner's reasonably expected right to make a derivative work[.]2021, Carol Simpson, Sara E. Wolf, Copyright for Schools: A Practical Guide, page 199:
  • Trump usurps the power of the national legislature, as laid out in Article 1 of the Constitution.2025 February 25, Linda Feldmann, “How Trump skirts checks and balances unlike any modern-day US president”, in The Christian Science...

All 15 example sentences with usurp

Forms of usurp

third-person singular presentusurps
present participleusurping
past participleusurped
pastusurped

Past tense of usurp: usurped

Origin of usurp

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

Words formed from usurp

Words that rhyme with usurp

Questions about usurp

What does usurp mean?
Usurp means 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).
What is usurp in Tamil?
Usurp in Tamil is உரிமை பெறு, உரிமையின்றிக் கைக்கொள, கைப்பற்று. See Usurp meaning in Tamil.
How do you use usurp in a sentence?
In this case, you have usurped the copyright owner's reasonably expected right to make a derivative work[.]
What part of speech is usurp?
Usurp is a verb.
How do you pronounce usurp?
Usurp is pronounced /juˈsɝp/ (US).
What is the past tense of usurp?
The past tense of usurp is usurped.

Words near usurp in the dictionary

  1. usurious
  2. usuriously
  3. usuriousness
  4. usurous
  5. usurously
  6. usurp
  7. usurpability
  8. usurpable
  9. usurpant
  10. usurpation
  11. usurpationist

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: usurp (page history and authors); usurp (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); usurp (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); usurp (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); usurp (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); usurp (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-usurp.ogg.

Cite this entry: “usurp.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/usurp. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.