usurp Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb seize and take control without authority and possibly with force; take as one's right or possession
    assume; arrogate; take over; seize.
    • He assumed to himself the right to fill all positions in the town
    • he usurped my rights
    • She seized control of the throne after her husband died
  2. verb take the place of
    • gloom had usurped mirth at the party after the news of the terrorist act broke

WordNet

U*surp" transitive verb
Etymology
L. usurpare, usurpatum, to make use of, enjoy, get possession of, usurp; the first part of usurpare is akin to usus use (see Use, n.): cf. F. usurper.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Usurped ; present participle & verbal noun Usurping
Definitions
  1. To seize, and hold in possession, by force, or without right; as, to usurp a throne; to usurp the prerogatives of the crown; to usurp power; to usurp the right of a patron is to oust or dispossess him.
    Alack, thou dost usurp authority. Shak.
    Another revolution, to get rid of this illegitimate and usurped government, would of course be perfectly justifiable. Burke.
    ✍ Usurp is applied to seizure and use of office, functions, powers, rights, etc.; it is not applied to common dispossession of private property. Syn. -- To arrogate; assume; appropriate.
U*surp" intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To commit forcible seizure of place, power, functions, or the like, without right; to commit unjust encroachments; to be, or act as, a usurper.
    The parish churches on which the Presbyterians and fanatics had usurped. Evelyn.
    And now the Spirits of the Mind Are busy with poor Peter Bell; Upon the rights of visual sense Usurping, with a prevalence More terrible than magic spell. Wordsworth.

Webster 1913