Expropriable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Subject to being taken from an owner by legal means for public usage
2. Able to be seized by official decree for public or governmental use
3. Susceptible to lawful confiscation from private possession for communal benefit

Etymology: "Proprius" is Latin for "one's own," and it is the root of English "proper" and "property." Adding the prefix "ex-," meaning "out of," gave "expropriare," literally "to remove from one's own possession." The sense was originally about taking something out of one's own control, and the idea of dispossessing someone by authority came later. The English verb "expropriate" comes from that Latin past participle, and "-able," from Latin "-abilis" meaning "capable of being," turns it into an adjective. So something expropriable is property that may legally be taken from its owner.

Synonyms: seizable, confiscable, attachable, foreclosable, forfeitable

Antonyms: unseizable, nonconfiscable, untouchable, protected, secure