Definition of Confiscate

1. Verb. Take temporary possession of as a security, by legal authority. "The police confiscated the stolen artwork"

Exact synonyms: Attach, Impound, Seize, Sequester
Generic synonyms: Take
Specialized synonyms: Condemn, Garnish, Garnishee, Distrain
Related verbs: Sequester
Derivative terms: Attachment, Confiscation, Impounding, Impoundment, Seizure, Sequestration

2. Adjective. Surrendered as a penalty.
Exact synonyms: Forfeit, Forfeited
Similar to: Lost

Definition of Confiscate

1. a. Seized and appropriated by the government to the public use; forfeited.

2. v. t. To seize as forfeited to the public treasury; to appropriate to the public use.

Definition of Confiscate

1. Verb. (transitive) To use one's authority to lay claim to and separate a possession from its holder. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Confiscate

1. [v -CATED, -CATING, -CATES]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Confiscate

confirmed
confirmed bachelor
confirmedly
confirmedness
confirmednesses
confirmee
confirmees
confirmer
confirmers
confirming
confirmingly
confirmities
confirms
confiscable
confiscatable
confiscate (current term)
confiscated
confiscates
confiscating
confiscation
confiscations
confiscator
confiscators
confiscatory
confit
confitent
confitents
confiteor
confiteors
confits

Literary usage of Confiscate

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Life and Works of Abraham Lincoln by Abraham Lincoln, Henry Clay Whitney (1907)
"Message to Congress on Act to confiscate Property of Rebels, etc. JULY 17, 1862. Fellow-citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives: Considering the ..."

2. War Powers Under the Constitution of the United States by William Whiting (1864)
"... be administered only in peace, but in the laws and usages of nations regulating the conduct of war. BELLIGERENT RIGHT TO confiscate ENEMY'S REAL ESTATE. ..."

3. History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880: Negroes as Slaves by George Washington Williams (1883)
"Congress was not long in seeing the suicidal tendency of such a policy, and on the 6th of August, 1861, passed "An Act to confiscate Property Used for ..."

4. A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language by Walter William Skeat (1882)
""L.fiscus, a basket of rushes, also a purse. confiscate, to adjudge to be ... to lay by in a coffer, to confiscate, transfer to the prince's privy purse. ..."

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