dispossession
Taking someone's property
Dispossession is the act of depriving someone of property, land, or belongings—typically by force or legal action.
The term often describes the taking of homes or territory from people who lack power to resist: the dispossession of indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands.
It can extend to losing intangible things: a dispossession of rights, cultural dispossession.
Forcible taking or convulsion
- confiscationSeizure by authority
- nationalizationGovernment acquisition of industry
- eminent domainForced government land acquisition
- compulsory purchaseMandated property transfer to state
appropriation · requisition · condemnation · asset forfeiture · takeover · annexation · usurpation · acquisition
State of lacking necessities
- bereavementState following loss
- forfeitLose through violation
- privationLack of necessities
- relinquishmentFormal giving up
surrender · divestiture · robbery · theft · inheritance · birthright · stripping · taking
Emotional separation between people
- disconnectionState of being severed
- rootlessnessState of having no anchor
- displacementRemoval from usual location
- marginalizationRelegation to powerless periphery
belonging · identity · uprootedness · exile · diaspora · landlessness · heritage · ancestral
Originating in a region
- settlerOne who colonizes territory
- territoryLand under jurisdiction
- conquestDefeating and seizing control
- imperialismExtending dominion over others
subjugation · exploitation · colonizer · land theft · annexation · domination · sovereignty · assimilation
seizure
Forcible taking or convulsion
- confiscationSeizure by authority
- nationalizationGovernment acquisition of industry
- eminent domainForced government land acquisition
compulsory purchase · appropriation · requisition · condemnation · asset forfeiture · takeover · annexation · usurpation · acquisition · distraint
deprivation
State of lacking necessities
- bereavementState following loss
- forfeitLose through violation
- privationLack of necessities
relinquishment · surrender · divestiture · robbery · theft · inheritance · birthright · stripping · taking · denial
estrangement
Emotional separation between people
- disconnectionState of being severed
- rootlessnessState of having no anchor
- displacementRemoval from usual location
marginalization · belonging · identity · uprootedness · exile · diaspora · landlessness · heritage · ancestral · homeland
indigenous
Originating in a region
- settlerOne who colonizes territory
- territoryLand under jurisdiction
- conquestDefeating and seizing control
imperialism · subjugation · exploitation · colonizer · land theft · annexation · domination · sovereignty · assimilation · reservation
tenant
One who rents property
- landlordProperty owner renting out
- evictRemove from property legally
- forcibleDone using physical power
unlawful detainer · vacate · notice · bailiff · lease · arrears · lockout · sheriff · writ · homelessness
- land reformland reform, agrarian reform, land redistribution, land distribution, land seizures
- rentingtenant, landlord, rent, rental, renter
- Indigenous AustraliaAboriginal art, Dreamtime, dreaming, corroboree, didgeridoo
- displacementdislocation, dislodging, relocation, displacing, uprooting
- evictioneviction, eviction notice, eviction hearing, eviction process, unlawful detainer
- expulsionsejection, ousting, expelling, forcing out, eviction
dispossessionpossession
State of owning
ownership · proprietorship · holding · retention · occupancy
dispossessionacquisition
Act of obtaining something
endowment · inheritance · restitution · restoration · bestowal
dispossessionrestitution
Restoring what was lost
restoration · repossession · reclamation · reinstatement · land reform