Thesaurus: usurpation

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1. n. The act of usurping, or of seizing and enjoying; an authorized, arbitrary assumption and exercise of power, especially an infringing on the rights of others; specifically, the illegal seizure of sovereign power; -- commonly used with of, also used with on or upon; as, the usurpation of a throne; the usurpation of the supreme power.
2. n. Use; usage; custom.
3. n. entry to another's property without right or permission
4. n. wrongfully seizing and holding (an office or powers) by force (especially the seizure of a throne or supreme authority)
5. 1. The act of usurping, or of seizing and enjoying; an authorized, arbitrary assumption and exercise of power, especially an infringing on the rights of others; specifically, the illegal seizure of sovereign power; -- commonly used with of, also used with on or upon; as, the usurpation of a throne; the usurpation of the supreme power. He contrived their destruction, with the usurpation of the regal dignity upon him. Sir T. More. A law [of a State] which is a usurpation upon the general government. O. Ellsworth. Manifest usurpation on the rights of other States. D. Webster. Note: Usurpation, in a peculiar sense, formerly denoted the absolute ouster and dispossession of the patron of a church, by a stranger presenting a clerk to a vacant benefice, who us thereupon admitted and instituted. 2. Use; usage; custom. [Obs.] Bp. Pearson.
6. n:100 n. wrongfully seizing and holding (an office or powers) by force (especially the seizure of a throne or supreme authority)