wegnemen

Wegnemen is a Dutch verb meaning to take something away from someone, to remove or seize. It can refer to the physical removal of an object, for example taking a phone, as well as to depriving someone of a possession, a right, a benefit, or an opportunity. The term is common in legal, administrative, and everyday language and often implies some authority or coercion behind the action.

In law and policy, wegnemen is used for acts such as confiscation, seizure, removal of a license, or withdrawal of a benefit. A police officer might wegnemen a stolen item, a court might rule that a right is weggenomen, and a government can wegnemen subsidies under certain conditions. The verb is neutral in form but can carry coercive or wrongful connotations depending on context.

Origin and grammar: wegnemen is a separable compound verb formed from weg meaning “away” and nemen meaning “to take.” In the infinitive it is written as wegnemen; in finite forms the prefix weg is separated: We nemen het weg. The past participle is weggenomen, and the past tense is formed with hebben: We hebben het weggenomen. Synonyms include afnemen and ontnemen, which differ slightly in nuance.