as in to seize
to take or make use of under a guise of authority but without actual right
the mayor usurped the school board's authority when he fired the principal
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of usurp
Anthony held the No. 1 spot in Baseball America's previous rankings but was usurped by Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki, who recently signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
—
John Yoo and John Shu, Newsweek, 24 Jan. 2025
By using these authorities to address a longstanding policy problem, Trump is usurping the role that the Constitution assigns to Congress.
—Elizabeth Goitein, TIME, 23 Jan. 2025
Mega social media platforms usually suffer a long death, shedding relevance and users as they’re slowly usurped by a new innovative generation of upstarts, like Facebook muscling out Myspace.
—Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY, 19 Jan. 2025
Season 2 was a major improvement, which was then usurped by season 3, which brought in new uniforms, new sets, and Michael Piller to head up the writing team.
—Chris Snellgrove, EW.com, 16 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for usurp
John Yoo and John Shu, Newsweek, 24 Jan. 2025
By using these authorities to address a longstanding policy problem, Trump is usurping the role that the Constitution assigns to Congress.
—Elizabeth Goitein, TIME, 23 Jan. 2025
Mega social media platforms usually suffer a long death, shedding relevance and users as they’re slowly usurped by a new innovative generation of upstarts, like Facebook muscling out Myspace.
—Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY, 19 Jan. 2025
Season 2 was a major improvement, which was then usurped by season 3, which brought in new uniforms, new sets, and Michael Piller to head up the writing team.
—Chris Snellgrove, EW.com, 16 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for usurp
Recent Examples of Synonyms for usurp
Verb
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The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Drug Unit seized 148 pounds of crystal methamphetamine, according to a statement the sheriff's office posted to Facebook.—
Julia Gomez,
USA TODAY,
17 Feb. 2025
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Panama has rejected his demand that the United States seize the Panama Canal.—
Mark Landler,
New York Times,
16 Feb. 2025
Verb
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This was when the government of Robert Mugabe confiscated land in Zimbabwe in a very aggressive way.—
Isaac Chotiner,
The New Yorker,
19 Feb. 2025
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Their journey began more than a year ago when they were confiscated from smugglers at the Mexican border after being snatched from the wild, their mothers killed in the process.—
Adriana Pérez,
Chicago Tribune,
18 Feb. 2025
Verb
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The Amazon Prime login page that, if completed, will steal your account credentials.—
Davey Winder,
Forbes,
22 Feb. 2025
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Six days later, the couple lured a man in his 50s to the hotel room to engage in prostitution with Lebron, but after the man handed over the cash and undressed, Lebron threw bleach in his face and the duo beat him for several hours before stealing his phone, wallet and car keys.—
Roni Jacobson,
New York Daily News,
22 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Then, almost missing the cue, Belushi stepped forward and grabbed the mic stand.—
David Browne,
Rolling Stone,
17 Feb. 2025
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The second woman, the grandmother of the 5-year-old girl and mother of the 22-year-old victim, tried to intervene when Phillips grabbed and pushed her, authorities said.—
Lauren Liebhaber,
Miami Herald,
16 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Delle had set the glass on the floor, and was now occupying her hands by picking at her inky black manicure.—
Daniel D'Addario,
Variety,
17 Feb. 2025
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Russia now occupies some 20% of Ukraine’s territory.—
Scott Peterson,
The Christian Science Monitor,
14 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Figuring out whether to do a conversion and precisely how much to convert in each future year is immensely complicated.—
Terry Savage,
Chicago Tribune,
24 Feb. 2025
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Here Meanwhile, a new regional piece of legislation is being drafted — and is up for approval this week — that would remove norms that currently prevent Rome movie theaters from being converted into any other type of business besides being a cultural space.—
Nick Vivarelli,
Variety,
24 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Usurp.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/usurp. Accessed 2 Mar. 2025.
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