Other forms: usurped, usurping, usurps
To usurp is to seize a position that belongs to another. Usurp the throne, usurped his role, usurping power.
It is about the right rather than the force — a usurper may take power easily and still be a usurper, because the objection is that the position was not theirs to take. It is formal and historical in tone. Note that the Latin is uncertain in formation but means to take into use.
1verbusurpTo seize a position that belongs to another.
“The king's younger brother usurped the throne while he was away at war.”
usurp is a seizing.
Latin usurpare probably comes from usus, use, plus rapere, to seize. Use and rapid come from the two halves.
Latin
ūsūrpō
Old French
usurper
Middle English
usurpen
English, today
usurp
From Middle English usurpen, from Old French usurper, from Latin ūsūrpō.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA