Foreclose

//fɔːˈkləʊz// verb

verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To repossess a mortgaged property whose owner has failed to make the necessary payments; used with on. transitive

    "They have to move out of their house because the bank foreclosed on their mortgage."

  2. 2
    subject to foreclosing procedures; take away the right of mortgagors to redeem their mortgage wordnet
  3. 3
    To cut off (a mortgager) by a judgment of court from the power of redeeming the mortgaged premises. transitive
  4. 4
    keep from happening or arising; make impossible wordnet
  5. 5
    To shut up or out; to prevent from doing something. transitive

    "The embargo with Spain foreclosed this trade."

Synonyms

All synonyms
preventpreventanticipateavertbarbar

Example

More examples

"Just when the bank was about to foreclose on her home, she came into a lot of money."

Etymology

Partially from Middle English foreclosen, forclosen, from Old French forclos, past participle of forclore (“to exclude”), from for- (“(prefix used to express error, exclusion, or inadequacy)”) + clore (“to shut”), and partially from Middle English forclusen (“to close up”), from Old English forclȳsan (“to close up”), equivalent to fore- + close.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.