What's the difference between supersede and usurp?

Supersede


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To come, or be placed, in the room of; to replace.
  • (v. t.) To displace, or set aside, and put another in place of; as, to supersede an officer.
  • (v. t.) To make void, inefficacious, or useless, by superior power, or by coming in the place of; to set aside; to render unnecessary; to suspend; to stay.
  • (v. t.) To omit; to forbear.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It was superseded by a new version earlier this year.
  • (2) At higher [Ca2+]i, the effect of K+ channels on Em is superseded by opening of nonselective cation channels, producing depolarization.
  • (3) The cephalic signal can be superseded by juvenile hormone, whose presence is necessary for each follicle to become vitellogenic.
  • (4) In an age of economic crisis, the tacit assumption of the governing class is that political reform is superseded by the growing demand for security.
  • (5) Radiological studies of Willis' circle morphology are mainly performed in search of intracerebral aneurysms, and for this purpose digital imaging has not superseded conventional radiology.
  • (6) This extracellular action may supersede the action of collagenase and the activity of these different enzymes would thus be regulated by changes in the nature of this microenvironment.
  • (7) Indeed, by the mid-17th century, Caravaggism was already out of favour in Rome and had been superseded by a Raphaelesque classicism, practised most gracefully by Annibale Carracci.
  • (8) In spite of his life seeming superficially great, in spite of all the praise and accolades, in spite of all the loving friends and family, there is a predominant voice in the mind of an addict that supersedes all reason and that voice wants you dead.
  • (9) During the period under review the Phemister procedure was replaced by percutaneous epiphysiodesis, and orthoroentgenogram was superseded by computed tomography (CT) scanning.
  • (10) Indeed, by analogy with anti-hypertensive therapy, enzyme inhibitors could eventually supersede receptor antagonists for the treatment of acid-related diseases.
  • (11) Autoregulation graduates to wingless independence, but is transient, and is superseded by an engrailed-independent mode of maintenance.
  • (12) Early excision-graft of burned hands seems to have totally superseded the conventional method of progressive detorsion often with late grafting.
  • (13) Graphene is claimed by some as an innovation that will prove as revolutionary as the silicon chip, or even plastics, both of which it may supersede.
  • (14) Stupid, sadistic, public-school educated, a former Black and Tan and one-time professional strikebreaker in the United States, "wanted in New Orleans for the murder of a coloured woman", it's tempting to see him as a satirical portrait of the archetypal hero of the moribund thrillers that Ambler was so determined to supersede, unmasked and revealed for the cryptofascist brute he really is.
  • (15) If you are in this position, your rights also supersede what are commonly known as "squatters' rights".
  • (16) Streptomycin undoubtedly will be improved upon and superseded by some other agent in the future, giving us better control of this disease and possibly enabling us to eradicate it.
  • (17) The application of this combination of techniques supersedes the traditional approaches (gel filtration on polydextran gels, electrophoresis) in specificity and speed.
  • (18) People and companies are entitled to acquire and hold private assets, but there are times – as in the run-up to the Olympics, as in the period of urban reconstruction after the second world war – when the public good must supersede the rights of those who wish to retain and profit from private assets.
  • (19) It is designed as an objective system--superseding former weighting processes, which were influenced by ambition, prestige, prejudice and narrow politics--and has sufficient flexibility to accommodate both the anticipated and the unforeseen.
  • (20) The principle that the best management is resection and exteriorisation of the ends, which was developed in the early 1970s, has been superseded by the realisation that resection and primary anastomosis can be safe in a well-resuscitated infant in whom the bowel ends appear viable.

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.