u·sur·pa·tion

(yo͞o′sər-pā′shən, -zər-)

1. The act of usurping, especially the wrongful seizure of royal sovereignty.

2. A wrongful seizure or exercise of authority or privilege belonging to another; an encroachment: "in our own day, gross usurpations upon the liberty of private life" (John Stuart Mill).

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

u•sur•pa•tion

(ˌyu sərˈpeɪ ʃən, -zər-)

n.

1. an act of usurping.

2. illegal seizure and occupation of a throne.

[1350–1400; Middle English < Latin]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	usurpation - entry to another's property without right or permission encroachment, trespass, violation, intrusion actus reus, wrongful conduct, misconduct, wrongdoing - activity that transgresses moral or civil law; "he denied any wrongdoing" inroad - an encroachment or intrusion; "they made inroads in the United States market"
	2.	usurpation - wrongfully seizing and holding (an office or powers) by force (especially the seizure of a throne or supreme authority); "a succession of generals who ruled by usurpation" capture, gaining control, seizure - the act of forcibly dispossessing an owner of property

usurpation

noun

The act of taking something for oneself:

appropriation, arrogation, assumption, preemption, seizure.

Translations

узурпация

usurpation

[ˌjuːzɜːˈpeɪʃən] N → usurpación f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

usurpation

n → Usurpation f (geh); (of power also) → widerrechtliche Übernahme; (of title, inheritance) → widerrechtliche Aneignung; usurpation of the throne → Thronraub m, → Usurpation f → des Thrones (geh)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Having impulsively, it is probable, and perhaps somewhat prematurely revealed the prime but private purpose of the Pequod's voyage, Ahab was now entirely conscious that, in so doing, he had indirectly laid himself open to the unanswerable charge of usurpation; and with perfect impunity, both moral and legal, his crew if so disposed, and to that end competent, could refuse all further obedience to him, and even violently wrest from him the command.

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On the other side, the executive power being restrained within a narrower compass, and being more simple in its nature, and the judiciary being described by landmarks still less uncertain, projects of usurpation by either of these departments would immediately betray and defeat themselves.

They seem never to have recollected the danger from legislative usurpations, which, by assembling all power in the same hands, must lead to the same tyranny as is threatened by executive usurpations.

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"William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much accustomed to usurpation and conquest.

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Though the company, by treaty, have a right to a participation only, in the trade of these regions, and are, in fact, but tenants on sufferance; yet have they quietly availed themselves of the original oversight, and subsequent supineness of the American government, to establish a monopoly of the trade of the river and its dependencies; and are adroitly proceeding to fortify themselves in their usurpation, by securing all the strong points of the country.

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This giving is flat usurpation, and therefore when the beneficiary is ungrateful, as all beneficiaries hate all Timons, not at all considering the value of the gift but looking back to the greater store it was taken from,--I rather sympathize with the beneficiary than with the anger of my lord Timon.

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But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence.

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The transition from this disposition to that of considering them masters, is neither remote nor difficult; but it is very difficult to prevail upon a people under such impressions, to make a bold or effectual resistance to usurpations supported by the military power.

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So that the greater part of the events of history- civil wars, revolutions, and conquests- are presented by these historians not as the results of free transferences of the people's will, but as results of the ill-directed will of one or more individuals, that is, once again, as usurpations of power.

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If it happens to have been cut in stone, though it lie face down-most for ages on a forsaken beach, or "rest quietly under the drums and tramplings of many conquests," it may end by letting us into the secret of usurpations and other scandals gossiped about long empires ago:-- this world being apparently a huge whispering-gallery.

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In 2017, the Office of the Ombudsman indicted Aquino, Purisima and Napenas for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (graft and usurpation of authority) for their role in the Mamasapano operation.

SC affirms dismissal of reckless imprudence raps vs Aquino on SAF 44's death