confiscate (verb)
1confiscate — ► VERB 1) take or seize (property) with authority. 2) appropriate to the public treasury as a penalty. DERIVATIVES confiscation noun confiscatory adjective. ORIGIN Latin confiscare put away in a chest, consign to the public treasury , from fiscus …
2confiscate — con‧fis‧cate [ˈkɒnfskeɪt ǁ ˈkɑːn ] verb [transitive] LAW to officially take private property away from someone, for example because a crime has been committed: • The state can confiscate criminals profits from books or movies describing their… …
3confiscate — con·fis·cate / kän fə ˌskāt/ vt cat·ed, cat·ing: to seize without compensation as forfeited to the public treasury compare criminal forfeiture ◇ Illegal items such as narcotics or firearms, or profits from the sale of illegal items, may be… …
4confiscate — verb To take possession of by force or authority; expropriate. In schools it is common for teachers to confiscate electronic games and other distractions. Syn: appropriate, arrogate, usurp …
5confiscate — verb Confiscate is used with these nouns as the object: ↑passport, ↑property …
6confiscate — verb (T) to officially take private property away from someone, usually as a punishment: Miss Williams confiscated all our sweets. confiscation, noun (C, U): the confiscation of pornographic material confiscatory adjective …
7confiscate — verb the guards confiscated his camera Syn: impound, seize, commandeer, requisition, appropriate, expropriate, sequester, sequestrate, take (away); Law distrain Ant: return …
8confiscate — verb Syn: impound, seize, commandeer, requisition, appropriate, expropriate, sequester Ant: return …
9confiscate — [16] Confiscate’s etymological connotations are financial: the Latin verb confīscāre meant ‘appropriate to the public treasury’. It was formed from the collective prefix com and fiscus. This meant originally ‘rush basket’; it was applied to the… …
10confiscate — [[t]kɒ̱nfɪskeɪt[/t]] confiscates, confiscating, confiscated VERB If you confiscate something from someone, you take it away from them, usually as a punishment. [V n from n] There is concern that police use the law to confiscate assets from people …
