dispossessed 1 of 2

past tense of dispossess
as in evicted
to end the occupancy or possession of opponents of gentrification claim that the process unfairly dispossesses poorer residents of their long-established homes

Synonyms & Similar Words

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dispossessed

2 of 2

adjective

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of dispossessed
Verb
Three days after his 10th birthday, his father, a depressed junkman, killed himself, and the experience of misfortune fueled the young artist’s identification with the dispossessed. Peter Saenger, WSJ, 22 Apr. 2022 Without the voices of the dispossessed, how can there be deconstruction? Audrey Clare Farley, The New Republic, 3 Jan. 2022 And when Israel gained its independence in 1948, Zionism became the world’s first successful Indigenous movement of a dispossessed and colonized people regaining sovereignty in their Indigenous homeland. Micha Danzig, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Dec. 2021 Chilton’s sonorous voice carries with it the perseverance and anguish of the dispossessed, disenfranchised and violated. Washington Post, 18 Oct. 2021 See All Example Sentences for dispossessed
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dispossessed
Verb
  • Prior to his career in government, Rasool, who as a child was evicted from a Cape Town neighborhood for white people, became an anti-Apartheid campaigner.
    Mark Davis, Newsweek, 14 Mar. 2025
  • Unable to make rent without his father, Rema and his family were evicted from their apartment.
    Mankaprr Conteh, Rolling Stone, 14 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Recruits typically come from deprived areas, and as Russia’s economy disintegrates in slow motion, the bonanza offered by the army looks increasingly appealing.
    David Hambling, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2025
  • Their comeback may help regenerate deprived economic regions like Italy's Abruzzo.
    Ruth Sherlock, NPR, 9 July 2025
Adjective
  • More than 90% of students were considered to be economically disadvantaged.
    Lina Ruiz, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 Aug. 2025
  • Priority will be given to locations in tribal areas and disadvantaged and low-income communities.
    Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • Having two of the three most impoverished cities, especially when those cities are experiencing booming population growth, is its own kind of economic miracle, if an ignominious one.
    Kathryn Anne Edwards, Mercury News, 7 Aug. 2025
  • The eye-popping dollar figures in the statements contrast with everything else happening on an impoverished island, where people spend much of their time without electricity and many still depend on meager food rations to survive.
    Nora Gamez Torres, Miami Herald, 6 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • Uniqlo is taking on a bigger presence in India, this time with a job vocational training center to empower underprivileged youth.
    Vicki M. Young, Sourcing Journal, 24 Mar. 2025
  • Gilbert will oversee Perfect Game’s Believe in Baseball Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization designed to provide resources and support to underprivileged children who want to participate in local travel baseball programs.
    Wayne G. McDonnell, Forbes.com, 21 July 2025
Adjective
  • When Theodore Hook’s destitute daughter neared death in 1893, a friend doxxed her, sharing her address with the world in the hope that donations would trickle in and ease her final days.
    Daniel Seifert, JSTOR Daily, 16 July 2025
  • The rising middle-class population change is expected to account for over 75% of expenditure growth, opening new market opportunities and lifting millions out of poverty, decreasing the percentage of destitute households from 15% today to just 6% by 2031.
    Sarwant Singh, Forbes.com, 14 July 2025
Adjective
  • An 83-year-old former pastor and food bank director has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for charitable theft and patronizing prostitution after being found guilty July 31 of misusing donations meant to serve needy residents.
    Katie Nixon, The Tennessean, 5 Aug. 2025
  • But, if people come to believe or experience that the country’s poor, needy, disabled or elderly are worse off because safety-net programs were sacrificed to fund tax cuts for the upper class, will the tax cuts matter?
    Terina Allen, Forbes.com, 4 July 2025
Adjective
  • Delaney is one of the primary faces of the movement of bar advocates, who represent some 80% of indigent criminal defendants, or those who cannot afford an attorney, to stop taking on new cases in a push for a raise in their pay.
    Flint McColgan, Boston Herald, 31 July 2025
  • Stapp has been appointed a public defender after successfully filing for indigent status, but her new attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
    Chris Spargo, People.com, 16 July 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Dispossessed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dispossessed. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.

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