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confiscate Definition

con·fis·cate (kän′fis kāt′)

transitive verb -·cat′ed, -·cat′·ing

  1. to seize (private property) for the public treasury, usually as a penalty
  2. to seize by or as by authority; appropriate

Etymology: < L confiscatus, pp. of confiscare, to lay up in a chest < com-, together + fiscus, money basket, public treasury: see fiscal

adjective

  1. confiscated
  2. having property confiscated

confiscate Related Forms
con′·fis·ca′·tion noun con′·fis·ca′·tor noun
confiscate Synonyms

confiscate

v.

appropriate, impound, usurp; see seize 2, steal.

confiscate Usage Examples

Object

  • alcohol: The police have the power to confiscate alcohol from anyone under the age of 18 who drinks in public.
  • asset: For this round of funding 50 % of receipts from confiscated assets have been allocated to the RAF.
  • passport: They also face having their passports confiscated to stop them taking foreign holidays.
  • cigarette: Ted Douglas tells Joan off for causing trouble by confiscating the cigarettes that Maxine gets from one of the TV crew.
  • estate: Alexander Norris, a puritan, handled the confiscated estates of Royalist families in Lancashire during the Civil War.

Subject

  • police: This follows the case of a man who demanded the return of the money, nearly £ 400,000, confiscated by police.
  • government: For the return of property of the Armenian Protestants that was confiscated by the Turkish Government.

Modifying Another Word

  • illegally: Dozens were detained for several hours when arriving to the city, their personal belongings or even passports being illegally confiscated by the police.
  • immediately: In certain cases driving licenses will be confiscated immediately.
  • also: He also confiscated property from the Roman Catholic Church in Sweden to pay Sweden's war debts.
  • then: They questioned me for a considerable length of time, then confiscated the food items from me.

Followed by an intransitive particle

  • along: Approximately 250,000 pieces of pirated optical disks were confiscated along with over 40 burners.

Used with why or when

  • when: All cans, bottles etc. whether sealed or not, can be seized and confiscated immediately when it becomes a problem.

Preposition: by

  • police: This follows the case of a man who demanded the return of the money, nearly £ 400,000, confiscated by police.
  • government: For the return of property of the Armenian Protestants that was confiscated by the Turkish Government.