as in to evict
to end the occupancy or possession of
opponents of gentrification claim that the process unfairly dispossesses poorer residents of their long-established homes
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Recent Examples of dispossess
Like Dunbar’s speakers, Hughes’s dispossessed have no way out, and the poem implicitly refutes optimism regarding the Great Migration and racial progress.
—
Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2025
As with the enclosures in England and Scotland, villagers were uprooted and dispossessed to make way for sheep and cattle.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 30 Sep. 2025
The cry is always I have been dispossessed of what belongs to me, my house, the food, foodstuff, the land.
—Paul Tilsley, FOXNews.com, 10 Aug. 2025
A number of Indigenous communities like the Batwa relocated to the periphery of national parks and protected areas—or further—many of them dispossessed of their ancestral homelands, their rights to the terrain, and its resources.
—Katherine Gallardo, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 Dec. 2022
See All Example Sentences for dispossess
Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2025
As with the enclosures in England and Scotland, villagers were uprooted and dispossessed to make way for sheep and cattle.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 30 Sep. 2025
The cry is always I have been dispossessed of what belongs to me, my house, the food, foodstuff, the land.
—Paul Tilsley, FOXNews.com, 10 Aug. 2025
A number of Indigenous communities like the Batwa relocated to the periphery of national parks and protected areas—or further—many of them dispossessed of their ancestral homelands, their rights to the terrain, and its resources.
—Katherine Gallardo, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 Dec. 2022
See All Example Sentences for dispossess
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dispossess
Verb
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The 66-year-old and her ex-husband, the former Prince Andrew, were evicted from their home at Royal Lodge following new revelations regarding their ties to financier Jeffrey Epstein.—
Hannah Malach,
InStyle,
26 Feb. 2026
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On Tuesday, Sampson questioned Chelsea Connery, a staff attorney with the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, about why the end of a lease isn’t sufficient reason to evict someone.—
Ginny Monk,
Hartford Courant,
25 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The quality of organs can suffer as the heart stops, briefly depriving them of oxygen.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
26 Feb. 2026
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Notably, the end of the emergency tariffs — which Trump enacted using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA — does deprive Democrats of some control over the levies’ future.—
Burgess Everett,
semafor.com,
24 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Dispossess.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dispossess. Accessed 7 Mar. 2026.
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