foreclose

verb

fore·​close (ˌ)fȯr-ˈklōz 

foreclosed; foreclosing; forecloses

transitive verb

1

: to shut out : preclude

2

: to hold exclusively

3

: to deal with or close in advance

4

: to subject to foreclosure proceedings

intransitive verb

: to foreclose a mortgage

Examples of foreclose in a Sentence

They've been unable to make their mortgage payments, and the bank has threatened to foreclose.

The bank has threatened to foreclose their mortgage.

Recent Examples on the Web

Detroit has a land bank, a public agency that manages vacant and foreclosed properties. —Deyanira Nevárez Martínez, The Conversation, 14 May 2025

Since that lien arose from the charging order, and the charging order only placed a lien on Addington's distributional rights in Ultra, the only thing that BAL was foreclosing upon was its lien in the distributional rights only. —Jay Adkisson, Forbes.com, 30 Apr. 2025

Christine Panagopoulos, chief operating officer of Trinity Habitat for Humanity, says the organization has built over 1,000 homes in Fort Worth and has only foreclosed on 24 homes since the Fort Worth branch was founded in 1989. —Kamal Morgan, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 Apr. 2025

The Powers That Be previously foreclosed on Poppa’s House, but have not yet determined the fate of Queen Latifah’s The Equalizer. —Ryan Schwartz, TVLine, 28 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French forclos, past participle of forclore, forsclore, from fors outside (from Latin foris) + clore to close — more at forum

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Rhymes for foreclose

• agarose
• aliquots
• amigos
• anthracnose
• bottlenose
• buffaloes
• bungalows
• calicoes
• cameos
• commandos
• conversos
• decompose

Kids Definition

foreclose

verb

fore·​close (ˈ)fōr-ˈklōz 

(ˈ)fȯr-

: to take legal measures to end a mortgage and take possession of the mortgaged property because the conditions of the mortgage have not been met

foreclosure

-ˈklō-zhər

noun

Legal Definition

foreclose

verb

fore·​close fōr-ˈklōz 

transitive verb

: to subject to foreclosure proceedings

intransitive verb

: to foreclose a mortgage or other security interest compare repossess, seize sense 2

Etymology

Anglo-French forclos, past participle of foreclore to preclude, prevent, from fors outside + clore to close