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oust

UK/aʊst/
verbC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,506 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: ousted, ousting, ousts

To oust is to force somebody out of a position. Oust the leader, ousted from office, oust him from the board.

It is nearly always about power rather than premises and nearly always passive. The Anglo-Norman behind it is a legal word for dispossessing somebody, which is the sense it keeps.

Definitions of oust

  1. 1verboustTo force somebody out of a position.C1

    “The rebels ousted the president and took control of the capital.”

oust is a removing.

Where it comes from

Anglo-Norman ouster means to remove, from Latin obstare, to stand in the way.

  1. Latin

    obstare — to remove

  2. Old French

    oster

  3. Anglo-Norman

    ouster

  4. English, today

    oust

Built from

  • obstare · Latin — to obstruct, stand in the way of

From Anglo-Norman ouster, oustier, from Old French oster (modern French ôter), from post-classical Latin obstare (“to remove”), classical obstare (“to obstruct, stand in the way of”). Not related to out.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word