expropriate
verb
Did you know?
If you guessed that expropriate has something in common with the verb appropriate, you're right. Both words ultimately derive from the Latin adjective proprius, meaning "own." Expropriate came to English by way of the Medieval Latin verb expropriare, itself from Latin ex- ("out of" or "from") and proprius. Appropriate descends from Late Latin appropriare, which joins proprius and Latin ad- ("to" or "toward"). Both the verb appropriate ("to take possession of" or "to set aside for a particular use") and the adjective appropriate ("fitting" or "suitable") have been with us since the 15th century, and expropriate was officially appropriated in the 17th century. Other proprius descendants in English include proper and property.
Synonyms
Examples of expropriate in a Sentence
Michael Snyder Pedro Kok, New York Times, 22 Mar. 2024
Biden could obtain funds for arms without congressional action by attempting to expropriate frozen Russian government bank accounts, a move that is reportedly being discussed by the administration and its allies.
—Robert Zubrin, National Review, 12 Jan. 2024
But in 2017, the Austrian government, acutely sensitive to the house’s poisonous symbolism and potential for abuse, expropriated the property, and after a period of debate, announced the building would be renovated to become a police station.
—Graham Bowley, New York Times, 19 Nov. 2023
But one detainee, a man in his 60s who had worked for Allende’s program to expropriate private mines, washed and wore his shirt and tie every day as a gesture of defiance.
—Pamela Constable, Washington Post, 25 Sep. 2023
After decades of back and forth on the ownership and fate of the dictator’s birthplace in Braunau am Inn, near Austria’s border with Germany, the Austrian government expropriated the building in 2017.
—Ellen Francis, Washington Post, 3 Oct. 2023
The campaign is a throwback to the leftist party’s first time in office in the 1980s, when the Sandinistas expropriated homes, setting off yearslong legal disputes.
—Frances Robles, New York Times, 26 Sep. 2023
Each new nation-state meant a new claim of popular sovereignty, empowering the many to expropriate the property of the few.
—Stephen Wertheim, Foreign Affairs, 16 Apr. 2019
The law turned land expropriated from tribal nations into seed money for higher education.
—Rachel Hatzipanagos, BostonGlobe.com, 10 July 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'expropriate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Medieval Latin expropriatus, past participle of expropriare, from Latin ex- + proprius own
1611, in the meaning defined at sense 1
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Cite this Entry
“Expropriate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/expropriate. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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Kids Definition
expropriate
verb
Legal Definition
expropriate
transitive verb
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