: the act of usurping: unauthorized arbitrary assumption and exercise of power especially as infringing on others' rights
dictatorial usurpation of Congressional power—Current History
specifically: the illegal seizure of sovereign power —usually used with of or sometimes with on or upon
2
: an act or an instance of encroachment
protect the executive branch from any legislative usurpations—Sidney Hyman
3
: the dispossession of the patron of a church by a stranger presenting to a vacant benefice a clerk who is thereupon admitted and instituted
4
Roman law: an interruption of use or possession (as in usucapion or in cohabitation)
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin usurpation-, usurpatio act of using, from usurpatus (past participle of usurpare to use) + -ion-, -io -ion
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