expropriate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb deprive of possessions
    • The Communist government expropriated the landowners

WordNet

Ex*pro"pri*ate transitive verb
Etymology
L. ex out, from + proprius one's own: cf. F. exproprier.
Definitions
  1. To put out of one's possession; to surrender the ownership of; also, to deprive of possession or proprietary rights. Boyle.
    Expropriate these [bad landlords] as the monks were expropriated by Act of Parliament. M. Arnold.

Webster 1913