What's the difference between divest and usurp?

Divest


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To unclothe; to strip, as of clothes, arms, or equipage; -- opposed to invest.
  • (v. t.) Fig.: To strip; to deprive; to dispossess; as, to divest one of his rights or privileges; to divest one's self of prejudices, passions, etc.
  • (v. t.) See Devest.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) And it comes as members of the European parliament in Brussels plan to establish a specialist group to campaign in favour of carbon divestment and demand new carbon reporting requirements.
  • (2) The reputations of companies linked to fossil fuels are at immediate risk from a fast-growing divestment campaign, one of Europe’s biggest asset managers has warned.
  • (3) Some of the world’s largest investment firms have thrown their weight behind efforts to combat smoking, sparking renewed calls for UK local authorities to divest all their shares in the tobacco industry from their pension fund investments.
  • (4) Could it be forced to divest parts of its business?
  • (5) Now the UK security firm G4S looks set to scale back its involvement in the Israeli prison system that holds Palestinian children without trial, following an international campaign that saw US churches and the Bill Gates Foundation divest from the company.
  • (6) Earlier this week Shell was reported to be preparing to make significant cutbacks to its operations in the UK North sea, and van Beurden is expected to announce a string of divestment targets at the end of this month.
  • (7) But even if this impact is limited in increasingly secular societies, it still provides succour to those within non-faith groups pushing for divestment.
  • (8) Nonimmortalized mouse mammary epithelial cells expressing Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase from a murine amphotropic packaged retroviral vector were injected into the epithelium-divested mammary fat pads of syngeneic mice.
  • (9) As of late Tuesday, the White House and the intelligence agencies, all belated supporters of the USA Freedom Act, did not respond to questions about whether they will seek legislation in the next Congress to divest the NSA of its domestic phone records database.
  • (10) The fossil fuel industry is a bigger threat to global health than tobacco and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust have a moral obligation to divest from it, an international organisation that represents 1 million medical students has said.
  • (11) If the Gates Foundation and Wellcome Trust divest from all of the biggest fossil fuel firms, that sends a very clear message.
  • (12) Whether New York is any more likely than London to divest, however, is up in the air, she says.
  • (13) In another demonstration of the growing concern of the scientific community towards the investments held by their funders, hundreds of scientists have answered a Guardian call to write to the Gates Foundation and Wellcome expressing their views on divestment.
  • (14) This means universities, churches, and other investment pools, now increasingly under pressure from mushrooming campaigns to divest funds from fossil fuel companies , must take action.
  • (15) This week it has taken a bold decision to go further : to step up engagement with fund managers on critical topics, including climate change; to increase our exposure to environmental, social and governance (ESG) managers; and, in the medium term, to divest from fossil fuels.
  • (16) That is why NTEU NSW is mounting a campaign for UniSuper to divest from Transfield.
  • (17) Two protesters from Divest from Detention network interrupted Transfield’s chair Diane Smith-Gander’s opening speech to present a letter signed by 844 asylum seekers and refugees on Manus Island and Nauru.
  • (18) Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), founded on the nation’s oil and gas resources and worth now £580bn in total, is being targeted by fossil fuel divestment campaigners.
  • (19) It has now divested and ruled out future investments in any company that makes more than 10% of its revenues from thermal coal – used for electricity generation – and oil from the tar sands.
  • (20) The companies said they were prepared to divest 3m TWC subscribers to help win approval of the deal.

Usurp


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To seize, and hold in possession, by force, or without right; as, to usurp a throne; to usurp the prerogatives of the crown; to usurp power; to usurp the right of a patron is to oust or dispossess him.
  • (v. i.) To commit forcible seizure of place, power, functions, or the like, without right; to commit unjust encroachments; to be, or act as, a usurper.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) If I invoked the Insurrection Act against her wishes, the world would see a male Republican president usurping the authority of a female Democratic governor by declaring an insurrection in a largely African American city.
  • (2) The ease of movement this afforded him allowed him to usurp three ports – at Ras Lanuf, Zeitina and Sidra – and remain in control.
  • (3) Balfe's role has now been usurped by key ministers – including Francis Maude and Oliver Letwin in the Cabinet Office, and Danny Alexander in the Treasury – and finishes after the Conservative party conference next month, when he will deliver a memo to Cameron on his recommendations for the future.
  • (4) The previous indication of limb-threatening ischemia has been usurped by distal arterial reconstruction.
  • (5) Rejecting suggestions that he had been usurped by Clegg as the candidate for change, he said it was his party that wanted to elect police commissioners, create active citizens and tackle poverty at source.
  • (6) In a country where gender inequality is entrenched, this is how easy it is for a well-known man to usurp the role of victim.
  • (7) Are Panathinaikos going to jump out and usurp one of these teams' place in the final?
  • (8) While many employees feel disillusioned and “oppressed” as they feel their jobs and responsibilities are being usurped by Charles’ aides, she claims.
  • (9) An estimated £810m was spent online by British shoppers on Friday, according to internet retail experts IMRG, a figure that eclipsed the £650m splurge predicted for Cyber Monday, and potentially means Boxing Day has been usurped as the biggest shopping day of the year once store sales are taken into account.
  • (10) David Cameron has accused him of cowardice, his mandarins are being accused of bias and UK ministers are trying to usurp his role as Scotland's most influential ambassador.
  • (11) Dave Archambault, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribal council, called the executive order “a menacing action meant to cause fear” and “a blatant attempt by the state and local officials to usurp and circumvent federal authority”.
  • (12) Finally, the need for psychiatric expert witnesses has increased because courts have gradually usurped some psychiatric clinical prerogatives and because there has been a trend toward greater consideration of emotional pain and suffering.
  • (13) Those who claim that conversion or rejection of faith is punishable by death are effectively - and this ought to give their pious hearts pause for reflection - usurping powers reserved solely for God.
  • (14) Also teams who win the Champions League or Europa League but finish outside the qualifying places in their domestic campaign will no longer usurp one of their league rivals to take up their place the following season.
  • (15) This dysphonia can occur as a compensation for anatomic or physiologic alterations within the larynx (vicarious type) or as isolated ventricular fold hypertrophy unaccompanied by other obvious laryngeal disorders (usurpative type).
  • (16) The Labour party hopes to change this next year: if all goes according to plan, local lass Lee Sherriff will usurp John Stevenson, the Tory who – to his own obvious surprise – managed to interrupt 45 years of unbroken red rule in Carlisle by getting elected in 2010.
  • (17) More than this, he has one incontrovertible advantage over anyone who might think about usurping him: he is a Kim.
  • (18) Oh God, deal with the usurpers and oppressors and tyrannical Jews.
  • (19) Everyone knows that there are two Milibands, and Westminster obsessives have long lipped their lips at the Oedipal prospect of Ed the younger usurping David the elder.
  • (20) Just as the house of Lancaster was toppled by the house of York, so, at the beginning of Game of Thrones, has the ruling dynasty of the Targaryens been toppled by a usurper, Robert Baratheon.