Dispossess

Dispossess is a verb meaning to deprive someone of property, possession, or a right to something. It can refer to taking away physical property or to causing someone to lose possession or control of an asset. In legal and social contexts, dispossession describes the process or outcome of losing entitlement to land or goods.

Etymology traces to the prefix dis- meaning apart or away from, combined with possess, from Latin roots related to ownership and control. The word has been part of English since the medieval period and remains closely linked to related terms such as possess, possession, and property.

In legal contexts, dispossession can occur through actions such as eviction, foreclosure, eminent domain, or other procedures that transfer or remove ownership or occupancy. It may be ordered by courts or authorized by statute, and it can involve both temporary and permanent removal of rights to property. Beyond law, dispossession is used in discussions of social and historical processes in which individuals or communities lose access to land or resources, often due to economic, political, or developmental pressures.

Examples include a landlord dispossessing a tenant for nonpayment, a government exercising eminent domain to acquire land for public use, or historical cases in which Indigenous peoples were dispossessed of traditional territories. The term is frequently encountered in analyses of property rights, housing policy, colonial history, and land reform debates.

Related terms include eviction, expulsion, expropriation, and displacement. Dispossession is distinct from mere transfer of ownership in some contexts, as it emphasizes the loss of possession or access to property rather than the creation of a new, legally recognized title.