en·croach

(ĕn-krōch′)

intr.v. en·croached, en·croach·ing, en·croach·es

1. To take another's possessions or rights gradually or stealthily: encroach on a neighbor's land.

2. To advance beyond proper or former limits: desert encroaching upon grassland.

3. Football To commit encroachment.

[Middle English encrochen, to seize illegally, from Old French encrochier, to seize : en-, in; see en-¹ + croc, hook (of Germanic origin).]

en·croach′er n.

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.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

encroacher - someone who enters by force in order to conquer

invader

interloper, intruder, trespasser - someone who intrudes on the privacy or property of another without permission

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

Deputy Commissioner and Commandant Levies Force directed the Assistant Commissioner Shahab Muhammad to take action against the encroacher after receiving several complaints against them.

Action taken against encroachers

A mating male frog, for example, can tell the size of an encroacher by comparing the encroacher's croak with its own.

Making sense of animal sounds; scientists studying animal sounds are finding common threads to the barks, growls and whines of different species

The hospital administration has already approached Sindh government and law enforcement agencies to get its land vacated from the encroacher on several occasions.

JPMC seeks govt help to get hospital land vacated from encroachers

He said that he would visit city areas again soon to keep an eye on theprogress of theoperation.Meanwhile, Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) in collaboration with district and City Traffic Police (CTP), under a grand anti-encroachment operation sealed 11 shops and confiscated two truckload goods from encroachers while a FIR was also lodged against a encroacher the in respective police station on Saturday.

Justice Ibadur Rehman visits city markets to check anti-encroachment operation: RMC seals 11 shops

Chandrasekharan has communicated to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan that it would be inappropriate to convene a high-level meeting on the basis of a request by an encroacher.

Kerala CPM, CPI disagree on Munnar land grab

Meanwhile, Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) in collaboration with district and City Traffic Police, under grand anti-encroachment operation sealed 11 shops and confiscated two truckload goods of encroachers while a FIR was also lodged against a encroacher in respective police station on Saturday.

Justice Ibadur Rehman visits city markets to check anti-encroachment operation: RMC seals 11 shops

The committee meeting chaired by Haji Imtiaz Ahmed Chaudhry directed the officials to take strict action against the encroachers and do not spare the encroacher who have occupied illegally the properties of Pakistan post.

NA body directs Pakistan Post to retrieve encroached property

In many areas, encroachers have resumed construction of illegal walls and extension of shops and houses.

Encroachers surviving against all odds 'with admin's support'

The encroachers offered strong resistance and a scuffle broke out with the police.

Sub-inspector killed in resistance during operation against encroachments in Lahore

On the other hand, the land mafia and encroachers illegally occupy any vacant space available in cemeteries.

Graveyards facing threats from land grabbers

Thiruvananthapuram: The Left Democratic Front government in Kerala, which had transferred Indian Administration Service official Sriram Venkataraman out of his post shortly after he had taken a strong stand against encroachers in Idukki district, has transferred more key revenue officials in the district from their posts.

Officials transferred over land row in Kerala