Usurp
verb
To take someone's position or power without having the right to do so.
He tried to usurp the throne from the king.
Often appears as...
- usurp authority
- usurp a throne
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
verb
To take or use something in a way that is not fair or legal.
She usurped my idea for the project and presented it as her own.
Often appears as...
- usurp resources
- usurp information
Usage tips
Disapproving
verb
To replace or take the place of something or someone else.
Modern technology has usurped many traditional ways of doing things.
Often appears as...
- technology usurps tradition
- automation usurps human labor
Usage tips
Disapproving
verb
To take someone's position or power without having the right to do so.
He tried to usurp the throne from the king.
Often appears as...
- usurp authority
- usurp a throne
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
verb
To take or use something in a way that is not fair or legal.
She usurped my idea for the project and presented it as her own.
Often appears as...
- usurp resources
- usurp information
Usage tips
Disapproving
verb
To replace or take the place of something or someone else.
Modern technology has usurped many traditional ways of doing things.
Often appears as...
- technology usurps tradition
- automation usurps human labor
Usage tips
Disapproving
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Power Grab
Indicates an aggressive action to take control, often suddenly and by force.
The general usurped control of the government overnight.
Pro Tip 2/3Without Consent
Highlights the lack of legitimate claim or permission in the act of usurping.
She tried to usurp leadership of the group without any support from its members.
Pro Tip 3/3Coup Connotation
Used in political contexts, it often implies a coup d'état or overthrow.
The dictator's brother attempted to usurp the regime.
Pro Tip 1/3Power Grab
Indicates an aggressive action to take control, often suddenly and by force.
The general usurped control of the government overnight.
Pro Tip 2/3Without Consent
Highlights the lack of legitimate claim or permission in the act of usurping.
She tried to usurp leadership of the group without any support from its members.
Pro Tip 3/3Coup Connotation
Used in political contexts, it often implies a coup d'état or overthrow.
The dictator's brother attempted to usurp the regime.
Pro Tip 1/3Power Grab
Indicates an aggressive action to take control, often suddenly and by force.
The general usurped control of the government overnight.
Pro Tip 2/3Without Consent
Highlights the lack of legitimate claim or permission in the act of usurping.
She tried to usurp leadership of the group without any support from its members.
Pro Tip 3/3Coup Connotation
Used in political contexts, it often implies a coup d'état or overthrow.
The dictator's brother attempted to usurp the regime.
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Video examples
Rodney Mullen: Pop an...
The rest of the time, you're just defending, and you get into this, turtle posture, you know? Where you're not doing -- it usurped the joy of what I loved to do because I was no longer doing it to create and have fun, and when it died out from under me, that was one of the most liberating things, because I could create.
Video examples
Why should you read...
and deeply unsure of what might be lurking in the shadows. But his brooding takes a turn when he’s visited by a ghost that bears his father’s face. The phantom claims to be the victim of a “murder most foul,” and convinces Hamlet that his uncle Claudius usurped the throne and stole queen Gertrude’s heart.
Video examples
Mark Pagel: How language...
is a fable and warning about the power of language. According to that story, early humans developed the conceit that, by using their language to work together, they could build a tower that would take them all the way to heaven. Now God, angered at this attempt to usurp his power,
Video examples
How Finding This Human...
briefly usurping the Kardashians, which I understand is quite a feat. But one of the reasons it made such a splash was the volume of the material. I mean these 1500, and now 1700, specimens that we'd recovered was unprecedented.
Video examples
Mating frenzies, sperm...
fighting her way to the top of the brood pile. Her daughters help their mother succeed where other queens fail— defeating the reigning monarch, and usurping the brood pile. Eventually, all the remaining challengers fail,
Video examples
The myth of Jason and...
creating new legends wherever they went. But none of their adventures was so great as when they joined forces for the sake of a young man named Jason. Years before, Jason’s uncle Pelias had ruthlessly usurped
Video examples
Taryn Simon: The stories...
to create friction between Frank and Hitler, so that Hitler would imagine Frank was trying to usurp his power. Again, talking about fate, I was interested in the stories and fate of particular works of art.
Video examples
Understanding the rise...
the world is being driven and shaped, not by the old developed countries, but by the developing world. We've seen this in terms of the G20 usurping very rapidly the position of the G7,
Video examples
The price of shame PIPE...
it broke online. It was the first time the traditional news was usurped by the internet for a major news story -- a click that reverberated around the world.
Video examples
See the Sparks That Set...
our country has been usurped by a foreign tribe
Video examples
Rodney Mullen: Pop an...
The rest of the time, you're just defending, and you get into this, turtle posture, you know? Where you're not doing -- it usurped the joy of what I loved to do because I was no longer doing it to create and have fun, and when it died out from under me, that was one of the most liberating things, because I could create.
Video examples
Why should you read...
and deeply unsure of what might be lurking in the shadows. But his brooding takes a turn when he’s visited by a ghost that bears his father’s face. The phantom claims to be the victim of a “murder most foul,” and convinces Hamlet that his uncle Claudius usurped the throne and stole queen Gertrude’s heart.
Video examples
Mark Pagel: How language...
is a fable and warning about the power of language. According to that story, early humans developed the conceit that, by using their language to work together, they could build a tower that would take them all the way to heaven. Now God, angered at this attempt to usurp his power,
Video examples
How Finding This Human...
briefly usurping the Kardashians, which I understand is quite a feat. But one of the reasons it made such a splash was the volume of the material. I mean these 1500, and now 1700, specimens that we'd recovered was unprecedented.
Video examples
Mating frenzies, sperm...
fighting her way to the top of the brood pile. Her daughters help their mother succeed where other queens fail— defeating the reigning monarch, and usurping the brood pile. Eventually, all the remaining challengers fail,
Video examples
The myth of Jason and...
creating new legends wherever they went. But none of their adventures was so great as when they joined forces for the sake of a young man named Jason. Years before, Jason’s uncle Pelias had ruthlessly usurped
Video examples
Taryn Simon: The stories...
to create friction between Frank and Hitler, so that Hitler would imagine Frank was trying to usurp his power. Again, talking about fate, I was interested in the stories and fate of particular works of art.
Video examples
Understanding the rise...
the world is being driven and shaped, not by the old developed countries, but by the developing world. We've seen this in terms of the G20 usurping very rapidly the position of the G7,
Video examples
The price of shame PIPE...
it broke online. It was the first time the traditional news was usurped by the internet for a major news story -- a click that reverberated around the world.
Video examples
See the Sparks That Set...
our country has been usurped by a foreign tribe
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Charles M. Schwab
American Businessman
There is nothing a worker resents more than to see some man taking his job. A factory can be closed down, its chimneys smokeless, waiting for the worker to come back to his job, and all will be peaceful. But the moment workers are imported, and the striker sees his own place usurped, there is bound to be trouble.
Quote examples
Sangram Singh
Indian Actor
It is the women who bring the men to this world: men are there because of women. It was my mother who brought me out of a health condition that threatened to usurp me completely. If we still treat women with disrespect, it is utterly shameful.
Quote examples
Zhang Zhidong
Chinese Politician
With foreign officials come foreign merchants, and with foreign merchants come foreign soldiers. They will usurp our authority and influence to begin with, and in the course of time, our guests will have become our hosts.
Quote examples
Jim Brown
American Athlete
Young black men in this country have to understand that they have a responsibility. They cannot be the enemy in their own neighborhoods and usurp the effort of good people that are trying to make things work.
Quote examples
John Edward Redmond
Irish Politician
Fraud, robbery, and murder have characterized the English usurpation of the government of our country. Why, for the last fifty years we have been robbed in the matter of taxes of hundreds of millions.
Quote examples
William Godwin
English Writer
Make men wise, and by that very operation you make them free. Civil liberty follows as a consequence of this; no usurped power can stand against the artillery of opinion.
Quote examples
Mitt Romney
American Politician
I oppose Obamacare and believe it has failed. It drove up premiums, took insurance away from people who were promised otherwise, and usurped state programs.
Quote examples
Carrie Lam
Chinese Politician
Any proposal that would usurp or water down the rights of the nominating committee would not be able to receive political support.
Quote examples
H. P. Lovecraft
American Novelist
Imagination is a very potent thing, and in the uneducated often usurps the place of genuine experience.
Quote examples
Edie Campbell
English Model
I think TV shows have usurped films!
Quote examples
Charles M. Schwab
American Businessman
There is nothing a worker resents more than to see some man taking his job. A factory can be closed down, its chimneys smokeless, waiting for the worker to come back to his job, and all will be peaceful. But the moment workers are imported, and the striker sees his own place usurped, there is bound to be trouble.
Quote examples
Sangram Singh
Indian Actor
It is the women who bring the men to this world: men are there because of women. It was my mother who brought me out of a health condition that threatened to usurp me completely. If we still treat women with disrespect, it is utterly shameful.
Quote examples
Zhang Zhidong
Chinese Politician
With foreign officials come foreign merchants, and with foreign merchants come foreign soldiers. They will usurp our authority and influence to begin with, and in the course of time, our guests will have become our hosts.
Quote examples
Jim Brown
American Athlete
Young black men in this country have to understand that they have a responsibility. They cannot be the enemy in their own neighborhoods and usurp the effort of good people that are trying to make things work.
Quote examples
John Edward Redmond
Irish Politician
Fraud, robbery, and murder have characterized the English usurpation of the government of our country. Why, for the last fifty years we have been robbed in the matter of taxes of hundreds of millions.
Quote examples
William Godwin
English Writer
Make men wise, and by that very operation you make them free. Civil liberty follows as a consequence of this; no usurped power can stand against the artillery of opinion.
Quote examples
Mitt Romney
American Politician
I oppose Obamacare and believe it has failed. It drove up premiums, took insurance away from people who were promised otherwise, and usurped state programs.
Quote examples
Carrie Lam
Chinese Politician
Any proposal that would usurp or water down the rights of the nominating committee would not be able to receive political support.
Quote examples
H. P. Lovecraft
American Novelist
Imagination is a very potent thing, and in the uneducated often usurps the place of genuine experience.
Quote examples
Edie Campbell
English Model
I think TV shows have usurped films!
Example 1 of 10
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