DISPOSSESSION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dispossession mean? 

• DISPOSSESSION (noun)
  The noun DISPOSSESSION has 2 senses:

1. the expulsion of someone (such as a tenant) from the possession of land by process of law

2. freeing from evil spirits

  Familiarity information: DISPOSSESSION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISPOSSESSION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The expulsion of someone (such as a tenant) from the possession of land by process of law

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

dispossession; eviction; legal ouster

Hypernyms ("dispossession" is a kind of...):

due process; due process of law ((law) the administration of justice according to established rules and principles; based on the principle that a person cannot be deprived of life or liberty or property without appropriate legal procedures and safeguards)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dispossession"):

ouster (a wrongful dispossession)

actual eviction (the physical ouster of a tenant from the leased premises; the tenant is relieved of any further duty to pay rent)

retaliatory eviction (an eviction in reprisal for the tenant's good-faith complaints against the landlord; illegal in many states)

Derivation:

dispossess (deprive of the possession of real estate)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Freeing from evil spirits

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

dispossession; exorcism

Hypernyms ("dispossession" is a kind of...):

supernaturalism (a belief in forces beyond ordinary human understanding)

Meronyms (parts of "dispossession"):

evocation; summoning (calling up supposed supernatural forces by spells and incantations)