variants or less commonly landgrab
: a usually swift acquisition of property (such as land or patent rights) often by fraud or force
land-grabber noun

Examples of land grab in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Related article Intelligence suggests Putin’s immediate goals for Ukraine war may have shifted Former US President Joe Biden, Western European leaders and Ukraine cast the invasion as an imperial-style land grab and repeatedly vowed to defeat Russian forces, which control about a fifth of Ukraine. Reuters, CNN Money, 4 May 2025 Where many of these vendors will want to go next is a land grab on the more direct use of AI inside business processes. Adrian Bridgwater, Forbes.com, 28 Apr. 2025 Some critics have also said the initiative amounts to a government land grab. Andrew Mangum, New York Times, 22 Apr. 2025 However, that claim has been met with strong resistance from Ukraine and many European nations, who argue that merely halting a full-scale land grab hardly qualifies as a meaningful concession. Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for land grab

Word History

First Known Use

1860, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of land grab was in 1860

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Cite this Entry

“Land grab.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/land%20grab. Accessed 21 May. 2025.

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