Dictionary

dispossession en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /dɪspəˈzɛʃn̩/ (UK)
• (US) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Latin dis- Old French des-bor. Latin dis-bor. Middle English dis- English dis- English possession English dispossession From dis- + possession.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The act of dispossessing someone of something.
   • At times, the assimilationist paradigm has facilitated the physical dispossession of Native lands and the suppression or eradication of Native institutions, culture, and identity by the political branches of the federal government. 2024 September 30, Michael Doran, “EXCEPTIONALISM AND ASSIMILATIONISM IN FEDERAL INDIAN LAW”, in Stanford Law School, volume 20, number 2, page 267, archived from the original on 24 Feb 2025:
2. (countable, uncountable) The casting out of an evil spirit that has possessed someone; exorcism.
   • There had been a series of such dispossessions since the beginning of Elizabeth's reign involving many clergy, particularly those of vehement Protestant sympathies. 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 462:

Forms

Synonyms

divestiture