(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.
Usury
Definition:
(v. t.) A premium or increase paid, or stipulated to be paid, for a loan, as of money; interest.
(v. t.) The practice of taking interest.
(v. t.) Interest in excess of a legal rate charged to a borrower for the use of money.
Example Sentences:
(1) Eventually, we were sucked dry: but the centre's greed is boundless, and now they want to gain more through usury and, if bad comes to worse, political domination.
(2) Such criticism was vocalised by the future Archbishop of Canterbury who described the terms of some of their loans as "usurious" and its business model as " morally wrong ".
(3) Extortion and usury last year brought in a substantial €2.9bn, while embezzlement earned the mafia €2.4bn and gambling €1.3bn.
(4) Why not neighborhood bowling leagues, usury and the gibbet?
(5) Naturally, as polyamory and bed hopping have had very little effect on bowling or usury.
(6) The traitorous governments have tried to mislead the Sunni peoples in every Arab land, as corrupt programmes were introduced for them and there spread among them the love of vice, bonds, bribery, usury and abandoning worship and forgetting the rulings of jihad.
(7) Like most of the well-off, I had never heard of Crazy George because the well-off never need credit at these usurious rates when every bank is tripping over itself to lend cash to the rich at good rates.
(8) Other edits by lobbyists range from a computer in the offices of payday lender Wonga deleting references to "usury" from its entry, to a computer registered to the American multinational Dow Chemical repeatedly attempting to remove a large section from the company's profile detailing "controversies".
(9) Within days, the government agreed to broaden the scope of the review and raised the prospect of regulating legal money-lending in Britain for the first time since usury laws were repealed in the 19th century.
(10) It is becoming clear payday lending premised on usurious interest rates is no longer either legitimate or particularly profitable.
(11) Indeed they say they face exploitation at every step: from real estate agents who charge exorbitant penalties for late rents to salesmen who charge usurious rates of credit on white goods.
(12) Global finance has to accept it has responsibilities, not usurious claims that must always be met in full whatever the pain.
(13) In the UK, debate rages as to whether high-cost, short-term loans perform a useful social function in a society where support from the state is being reduced, or are just a legal form of usury, only a notch above loan sharks.
(14) However, the push for anti-usury laws, organised by the centre-left pressure group Compass, community organisers Citizens UK, church groups, academics and debt advice groups received a fillip last month when Creasy got widespread support for her 10-minute rule bill on regulating the "high-interest legal home credit market".
(15) Griesa's ruling, however, encourages usurious behaviour, threatens the functioning of international financial markets, and defies a basic tenet of modern capitalism: insolvent debtors need a fresh start.
(16) Maduro has spoken of jailing retailers, criticising the "speculation and usury" that he blames for Venezuela's economic woes.
(17) African Americans living in postal codes with depressed incomes likely do respond disproportionately to ads for usurious “payday” loans.