Meaning & use
extradition
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountablelegal
The official handing over of a person accused or convicted of a crime from one country or state to another that wants to try or punish them.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: fight extradition. A countable use, extraditions, is common in news.
Patterns
- extradition to somewhere
- extradition from somewhere
- extradition for something
The suspect is fighting extradition to the United States.
The two countries signed an extradition treaty last year.
His lawyers argued that extradition would put him at risk.
Word forms
| plural | extraditions |
|---|
Common combinations
- extradition treaty
- There is no extradition treaty between the two nations.
- fight extradition
- The businessman plans to fight extradition in court.
- extradition request
- The government received an extradition request on Monday.
- extradition hearing
- The extradition hearing is scheduled for next week.
- face extradition
- If found, he will face extradition to France.
- seek extradition
- Prosecutors will seek extradition of the fugitive.
Synonyms and how they differ
- deportation
- Deportation means sending a foreign person out of a country, often for immigration reasons, while extradition is a formal handover to face criminal charges.
- rendition
- Rendition can mean handing over a person without the usual legal process, so it is more controversial than extradition.
- surrender
- Surrender is a general word for handing over or giving up, but extradition is the specific legal process between states.
Word family
- extradite verb
- to hand over an accused person to another state
- extraditable adjective
- able to be extradited, as in an extraditable offence
- extradited adjective
- handed over under extradition
- extraditee noun
- a person who is being or has been extradited
Commonly confused: extradition or deportation? extradition or expedition?
extradition vs deportation
Deportation expels someone from a country, usually for breaking immigration rules, while extradition sends someone to face a specific criminal case elsewhere.
extradition vs expedition
An expedition is an organised journey, so it only looks and sounds somewhat like extradition.
Practice
Which situation is an example of extradition?
Choose one answer.
Extradition is the formal handing over of an accused or convicted person to another jurisdiction. Being refused entry is not extradition, and the others are ordinary administrative moves.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “extradition”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.