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seizure of sovereign power; -- commonly used with of, also used with on or upon; as, the usurpation of a throne; the usurpation of the supreme power.

An encroachment; usurpation. [Obs.] Bailey.

e Commune of Paris, or The Commune (a) The government established in Paris (1792-94) by a usurpation of supreme power on the part of representatives chosen by the communes; the period of its continuance is known as the "Reign of Terror." (b) The revolutionary government, modeled on the commune of 1792, which the commun…

dual of the female sex; characteristic of woman; feminine; as, female tenderness. "Female usurpation.'b8 Milton. To the generous decision of a female mind, we owe the discovery of America. Belknap.

und. As valid against such an old and beneficent government as against . . . the greenest usurpation. Burke.

; a jot; a particle. They never depart an iota from the authentic formulas of tyranny and usurpation. Burke. Iota subscript (Gr. Gram.), iota written beneath a preceding vowel, as a,, h,, w,, -- done when iota is silent.

The habit of soliloquizing, or of monopolizing conversation. It was not by an insolent usurpation that Coleridge persisted in monology through his whole life. De Quincey.

rred by the Mikado on the military governor of the eastern provinces of Japan. By gradual usurpation of power the Shoguns (known to foreigners as Tycoons) became finally the virtual rulers of Japan. The title was abolished in 1867. [Written variously, Shiogun, Shiogoon, etc.]

Marked by usurpation; usurping. [R.]

Usurpation. [R.] "Beneath man's usurpature." R. Browning.