Meanings
present singular third person arrogates · participle present arrogating · participle past arrogated · past arrogated
- transitiveuncommonTo appropriate or lay claim to something for oneself without right.First known use 1530s
Unfortunately, certain capitalists have arrogated to themselves monopolies and privileges which are quite sufficient to account for this [commotion of the populace against capitalists].
1874, Patrick James Stirling, What is Money?, Putnam, translation of original by Frédéric Bastiat, page 1695 more examples
Ye who arrogate to yourselves that ye see more, or at least are not so blind as others; in your unbelieving conduct, allow me to say, ye are blinder than others; ye are even blinder than the most ignorant and illiterate.
1830, William Pashley, The Voice of Reason in Defence of the Christian Faith“[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLCBritain has spent 40-plus years arrogating more and more power to its centre – and now its centre has no idea of how to wield that power. That I think is the fundamental political and economic crisis we face today.
2019 March 14, Aditya Chakrabortty, “The problem is not so much Theresa May – it’s that Britain is now ungovernable”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 30 Apr 2019What is remarkable about the challenged statute and rules is not that they address medical treatments with both risks and benefits but that they arrogate to the state the right to make that decision.
May 30, 2023, Judge Robert L. Hinkle, Doe v. ladapo, Case No. 4:23cv114-RH-MAF, Federal District Court, Northern District of FloridaRuling in the immunity case, Chief Justice John Roberts seemed to serenely arrogate to the Court an immense power to determine whether the president might ever face criminal consequence without worrying whether the emboldening of a rampaging executive might at some point place the authority of the judiciary in danger.
2025 April 9, Quinta Jurecic, “What, Exactly, Is the Supreme Court Thinking?”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 19 Dec 2025Synonyms: commandeer, expropriate, usurp · Antonyms: abandon, abdicate, relinquish, renounce
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo appropriate or lay claim to something for oneself without right.
More synonyms by meaning
verbdemand as being one's due or property; assert one's right or title to
verbseize and take control without authority and possibly with force; take as one's right or possession
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Esperanto arogi
- arogito appropriate or lay claim to something without right
French s'arroger
- s'arrogerto appropriate or lay claim to something without right
German an sich reißen
- an sich reißento appropriate or lay claim to something without right
Japanese 横取りする
- 横取りする (yokodori suru)to appropriate or lay claim to something without right
Norwegian tilta seg, rive til seg
- tilta segto appropriate or lay claim to something without right
- rive til segto appropriate or lay claim to something without right
- rane til segto appropriate or lay claim to something without right
- tilrane segto appropriate or lay claim to something without right
- tilrive segto appropriate or lay claim to something without right
- tiltvinge segto appropriate or lay claim to something without right
Portuguese arrogar
- arrogarto appropriate or lay claim to something without right
Russian самонаде́янно претендова́ть
- самонаде́янно претендова́ть (samonadéjanno pretendovátʹ)to appropriate or lay claim to something without right
Spanish arrogarse
- arrogarseto appropriate or lay claim to something without right
Swedish tillvälla sig, tillskansa sig
- tillvälla sigto appropriate or lay claim to something without right
- tillskansa sigto appropriate or lay claim to something without right
Cite this entry
arrogate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arrogate
“arrogate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arrogate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “arrogate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arrogate.
Source: arrogate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.