Meaning & use
expropriate
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Meanings
verbtransitiveformallegal
To take private property away from its owner by official order, usually by the state for public use.
Grammar: Always takes an object: the state expropriated the land.
Patterns
- expropriate something from someone
- expropriate something for something
The government expropriated farmland to build the new highway.
Several foreign oil companies had their assets expropriated.
The city plans to expropriate the old factory for public housing.
verbtransitivefigurativeformal
To take or use something that belongs to someone else for your own purposes, without permission.
Grammar: Looser, figurative use for ideas or work: expropriate a design.
Patterns
- expropriate something from someone
Critics accused the company of expropriating the villagers' traditional recipes.
He expropriated her idea and presented it as his own.
The regime expropriated church funds to pay the army.
Word forms
| third person singular | expropriates |
|---|---|
| past tense | expropriated |
| past participle | expropriated |
| -ing form | expropriating |
Common combinations
- expropriate land
- The state may expropriate land for a railway.
- expropriate property
- The regime expropriated property from wealthy families.
- expropriate assets
- The new government expropriated foreign assets.
- expropriate without compensation
- They were expropriated without compensation.
- expropriate for public use
- Land can be expropriated for public use if the owner is paid.
Synonyms and how they differ
- confiscate
- It usually means taking something as a punishment or because it is illegal, while expropriate is about taking property for state purposes.
- seize
- It is more general and can be sudden and forceful, with no legal process implied.
- nationalize
- It means turning a whole industry into state ownership, a larger action than taking one piece of property.
- requisition
- It means officially demanding goods or property for use, often during war, and may be temporary.
Opposites
Word family
- expropriation noun
- the act of taking property
- expropriator noun
- a person or body that takes property
- appropriate verb
- to take something for your own use
- proprietor noun
- an owner of a business
Commonly confused: expropriate or appropriate?
expropriate vs appropriate
Appropriate as a verb means to take for yourself, but expropriate stresses taking from an owner by authority.
Practice
The government decided to ___ the farmland so it could build a reservoir.
Choose one answer.
Expropriate means the state takes land from its owner for public use. Donate and inherit are voluntary or passive, and rent does not remove ownership.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “expropriate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.