expropriate
verb [ T ]
uk/ɪkˈsprəʊprieɪt/ us/-ˈsproʊ-/ LAW, GOVERNMENT
if a government expropriates property, it takes it for public use, sometimes without payment to the owner:
The new regime wiped out organized crime and vice, expropriated factories and built new ones, setting the city on a new industrial course.
Political risk is the risk that an investment abroad may be expropriated by the overseas government.
The road will be built on about 400 acres, of which 56 acres were expropriated from landowners.
LAW
to illegally take property or money that belongs to someone else:
The banker has been in jail since mid-May pending trial on charges of expropriating deposits.
expropriation
noun [ C or U ] uk/ɪkˌsprəʊpriˈeɪʃən/ us/-ˌsproʊ-/
Farmers have been given the right to sue to protect their land against expropriation.