ENCROACHMENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does encroachment mean? 

• ENCROACHMENT (noun)
  The noun ENCROACHMENT has 3 senses:

1. any entry into an area not previously occupied

2. entry to another's property without right or permission

3. influencing strongly

  Familiarity information: ENCROACHMENT used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ENCROACHMENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any entry into an area not previously occupied

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

encroachment; intrusion; invasion

Context example:

an invasion of locusts

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

entering; entrance (a movement into or inward)

Derivation:

encroach (advance beyond the usual limit)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Entry to another's property without right or permission

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

encroachment; intrusion; trespass; usurpation; violation

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

actus reus; misconduct; wrongdoing; wrongful conduct (activity that transgresses moral or civil law)

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

inroad (an encroachment or intrusion)

Derivation:

encroach (advance beyond the usual limit)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Influencing strongly

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

encroachment; impact; impingement

Context example:

they resented the impingement of American values on European culture

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

influence (causing something without any direct or apparent effort)

Derivation:

encroach (impinge or infringe upon)

 Context examples 

She saw with maternal complacency all the impertinent encroachments and mischievous tricks to which her cousins submitted.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

During three hundred years their domains had gradually contracted, sometimes through royal or feudal encroachment, and sometimes through such gifts to the Church as that with which Alleyne's father had opened the doors of Beaulieu Abbey to his younger son.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)