- 1expropriate something (formal or law) (of a government or an authority) to officially take away private property from its owner for public use
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
- 2expropriate something (formal) to take someone's property and use it without permission
expropriate
verbNAmE//ɛksˈproʊprˌieɪt//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they expropriate he / she / it expropriates
past simple expropriated
-ing form expropriating
NAmE//ɛksˌproʊpriˈeɪʃn//
noun [uncountable]See expropriate in the Oxford Advanced Learner's DictionaryCheck pronunciation: expropriate