Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To take or claim for oneself without right; appropriate: synonym: appropriate.
  • transitive verb To ascribe on behalf of another in an unwarranted manner.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To claim or demand unduly or presumptuously; lay claim to in an overbearing manner: as, to arrogate power or dignity to one's self.
  • To lay claim to on behalf of another: as, to arrogate to the crown the privilege of issuing writs.
  • In Roman law, same as adrogate.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To assume, or claim as one's own, unduly, proudly, or presumptuously; to make undue claims to, from vanity or baseless pretensions to right or merit.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To appropriate or lay claim to something for oneself without right.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make undue claims to having
  • verb demand as being one's due or property; assert one's right or title to
  • verb seize and take control without authority and possibly with force; take as one's right or possession

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin arrogāre, arrogāt- : ad-, ad- + rogāre, to ask; see reg- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin arrogātus, perfect passive participle of adrogō, arrogō ("ask of, adopt, appropriate, assume"), from ad ("to") + rogō ("ask").

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Examples

  • I have to admit that I looked up the definition of "arrogate," which means "to claim or seize without right."

    Fund Managers Are Not the Cause of Rising Fund Fees 2010

  • In creating the congressional intelligence committees and enacting FISA, Congress voted, with large bipartisan majorities, that the answer is no—the president cannot arrogate these powers to the executive branch or decide, in isolation, to reinterpret standing law.

    The Good Fight Walter F. Mondale 2010

  • They took a horrible set of events—the attacks of 9/11—and used them to create a climate of fear that would justify their drive to reinterpret the Constitution and arrogate unlimited power to themselves.

    The Good Fight Walter F. Mondale 2010

  • In creating the congressional intelligence committees and enacting FISA, Congress voted, with large bipartisan majorities, that the answer is no—the president cannot arrogate these powers to the executive branch or decide, in isolation, to reinterpret standing law.

    The Good Fight Walter F. Mondale 2010

  • In creating the congressional intelligence committees and enacting FISA, Congress voted, with large bipartisan majorities, that the answer is no—the president cannot arrogate these powers to the executive branch or decide, in isolation, to reinterpret standing law.

    The Good Fight Walter F. Mondale 2010

  • They took a horrible set of events—the attacks of 9/11—and used them to create a climate of fear that would justify their drive to reinterpret the Constitution and arrogate unlimited power to themselves.

    The Good Fight Walter F. Mondale 2010

  • They took a horrible set of events—the attacks of 9/11—and used them to create a climate of fear that would justify their drive to reinterpret the Constitution and arrogate unlimited power to themselves.

    The Good Fight Walter F. Mondale 2010

  • The larger tragedy is that none of them objected to government health care, which will always take choices away from individuals and arrogate them to an infallible higher power in Washington.

    Immaculate Contraception 2012

  • For the DOF to now argue otherwise would be to arrogate unto itself legislative powers which it does not have.

    On the Great Book Blockade of 2009 (Updated 7 May) (with BDAP Paper) « BAHAY TALINHAGA 2009

  • One can quickly arrogate to oneself the role of God.

    Sister Mary Ann Walsh: The Choice To End All Choices Sister Mary Ann Walsh 2011

Comments

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  • JM shuts the arrogate after the steamroller.

    May 20, 2011