Did you know?
While often associated with questionable behavior by the royals of eras past, usurp retains its usefulness today. It’s still typically applied when someone takes power without authority or the right to do so, though the power taken is not necessarily political and the question of right and authority may be subject to debate; a city council usurping a mayor’s power is a more traditional use of the word, but one product can be said to be usurping market share from another, and one athlete may claim to have usurped GOAT status. The usurpation can even be sartorial: Amanda Mull, writing for The Atlantic, noted how tracksuits in the 1980s “usurped much of cotton sweatpants’ momentum toward legitimate coolness.” Usurp comes from Latin: usurpare, meaning “to take possession of without a legal claim,” was formed by combining usu (a form of usus, meaning “use,” which also led to the words usually and use) and rapere (“to seize”).
Examples of usurp in a Sentence
Michael Schuman, The Atlantic, 6 July 2025
Season 2, after all, found Demi attempting to usurp Taylor Frankie Paul as the face of MomTok, trying (and failing) to turn the other women against her.
—EW.com, 3 July 2025
Therefore, the organization argued, the FCC was violating the constitution by usurping congress's power to tax.
—Npr Washington Desk, NPR, 27 June 2025
Trump has already tried to use three pretexts to usurp power — terrorism, national emergency, and war itself — to justify his mass deportations, universal tariffs, and consolidations of power.
—Robert B. Reich, Hartford Courant, 27 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for usurp
Cite this Entry
“Usurp.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/usurp. Accessed 15 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Legal Definition
usurp
verbLatin usurpare to take possession of without a strict legal claim, from usus use + rapere to seize
Share