dispossess

views updated

dis·pos·sess / ˌdispəˈzes/ • v. [tr.] (often be dispossessed) deprive (someone) of something that they own, typically land or property: they were dispossessed of lands and properties at the time of the Reformation | [as pl. n.] (the dispossessed) a champion of the poor and the dispossessed. ∎  oust (a person) from a dwelling or position: he used to ride out and dispossess his tenants as the spirit moved him.DERIVATIVES: dis·pos·ses·sion / -ˈzeshən/ n.