verb (used with object)
- to put (a person) out of possession, especially of real property; oust.
- to banish.
- to abandon ownership of (a building), especially as a bad investment: Landlords have dispossessed many old tenement buildings.
verb
- (tr) to take away possession of something, esp property; expel
late 15c., from Old French despossesser “to dispossess,” from des- (see dis-) + possesser (see possess). Related: Dispossessed; dispossessing.