usurpation Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun entry to another's property without right or permission
    violation; trespass; encroachment; intrusion.
  2. noun wrongfully seizing and holding (an office or powers) by force (especially the seizure of a throne or supreme authority)
    • a succession of generals who ruled by usurpation

WordNet

U`sur*pa"tion noun
Etymology
L. usurpatio making use, usurpation: cf. F. usurpation.
Definitions
  1. The act of usurping, or of seizing and enjoying; an authorized, arbitrary assumption and exercise of power, especially an infringing on the rights of others; specifically, the illegal seizure of sovereign power; -- commonly used with of, also used with on or upon; as, the usurpation of a throne; the usurpation of the supreme power.
    He contrived their destruction, with the usurpation of the regal dignity upon him. Sir T. More.
    A law [of a State] which is a usurpation upon the general government. O. Ellsworth.
    Manifest usurpation on the rights of other States. D. Webster.
    ✍ Usurpation, in a peculiar sense, formerly denoted the absolute ouster and dispossession of the patron of a church, by a stranger presenting a clerk to a vacant benefice, who us thereupon admitted and instituted.
  2. Use; usage; custom. Obs. Bp. Pearson.

Webster 1913