usurpation

the unlawful taking or withholding of something from the rightful owner under a guise of authority the government's usurpation of the tribe's hunting grounds left them without a source of food Synonyms arrogation, commandeering, detainer, expropriation, preemption, seizure, takeover, appropriationRelated Words annexation, assumption, attachment, confiscation, grab, impoundment, repossession, sequestration; defalcation, embezzlement, misapplication, misappropriation, misuse, peculation, theft; despoilment, looting, pillaging; encroachment, infringement, piracy; invasion, occupancy, occupation, preoccupancy, trespass; deforcement, disfurnishment, dispossession, ejection, stripping