USURPER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does usurper mean? 

• USURPER (noun)
  The noun USURPER has 1 sense:

1. one who wrongfully or illegally seizes and holds the place of another

  Familiarity information: USURPER used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• USURPER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

One who wrongfully or illegally seizes and holds the place of another

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

supplanter; usurper

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

offender; wrongdoer (a person who transgresses moral or civil law)

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

claim jumper (one who illegally occupies property to which another has a legal claim)

Derivation:

usurp (seize and take control without authority and possibly with force; take as one's right or possession)

 Context examples 

"Yes," was all he said, but he turned and strained his eyes to see the island which a greater usurper than even Napoleon now made interesting in his sight.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I chiefly fed mine eyes with beholding the destroyers of tyrants and usurpers, and the restorers of liberty to oppressed and injured nations.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)