to encroach
- verb
- /ɪnˈkroʊtʃ/
- Residents are concerned that the factory's expansion will encroach on their rights to clean air and water.
- encroach on their territory
- encroach on my rights
- encroach on their land
So it was after D-Day and it looked like the Allies were encroaching on the Axis forces.
- So it was after D-Day and it looked like the Allies were encroaching on the Axis forces.
- Computers are beginning to encroach on that.
- There's a little wooden church called Saint Mary's on the little hilltop, and now it's, you know, all encroached by big buildings and whatnot.
- And they have provable transcripts of conversation where they say, if you take this away from me, you are encroaching on my rights as a human being.
- Is this to do with encroaching Islamism in the country, this kind of blasphemy laws and things like that?
- You know, And the Stoics talk about this all the time, you know, like we would, you would be incensed if one of your neighbors encroached onto your physical property.
- But technology is harder, it encroaches, it's slow, it's kind of pervasive, but not in a tangible way.
- Anything you would proclaim anew will encroach upon the freedom of men's faith.
- I'm not how successful have they been encroaching on Apple's podcast player or others?
Examples
-
The Picts had expanded from their palisaded home site and encroached on the pasture land.
Fiction book (1991) -
Spanish colonists began to encroach on Indian lands and to set up vast agricultural and ranching operations.
Academic text (1999) -
And these are the people who want to encroach on your right.
-
"Of course," she says, "but if you agree, you must never encroach on my time."
Fiction book (1997) -
Then, when he returned, I would be angry at him for encroaching on my freedom.
Fiction book (1991) -
Nature, on the other hand, stands outside of the human world and is encroached upon by it.
Academic text (1999) -
The degree to which state authority can encroach on tribal land is also a muddled question.
Academic text (2017) -
While development encroaches on some of the forested areas of Miller County, the bottom lands remain much the same as they've always been.
-
And they have provable transcripts of conversation where they say, if you take this away from me, you are encroaching on my rights as a human being.
-
He pedals up to an old person home, the last of its kind in an encroaching suburban sprawl.
Synonyms
To go into a place or conversation where you are not welcome
To enter someone's space or private life without permission
Break a rule or law and go against someone's rights
To interrupt a conversation or activity without being invited
To go into someone's space or life without permission
To begin to appear or affect someone slowly and quietly
To go onto someone else's land without permission
To start taking control of a business or area without being invited
To join a conversation or activity without being invited
Make someone angry by doing their job or making decisions for them
To gradually move into someone's personal space, rights or privacy
To go past a normal limit and enter another person's space or rights
To try to take part in other people's business without being asked
To get involved in other people's business without being asked
Push yourself into a place or conversation when people do not want you
To enter or take part in something where you are not allowed, often selling without a license
To force yourself into someone's space or attention without being invited
Phrasal Verbs
How Intrusive
Surface Forms
Morphology
encroach = en + croach
Although formally analysable as en- + croach, 'croach' is not a recognizable modern English base and the verb is a borrowing from French, so learners cannot reliably derive the meaning from the parts.
Etymology
Encroach comes from two parts: en- meaning 'in' and croc meaning 'hook', and croc is like the English word crook or 'hook'. Imagine a hook slowly pulling into someone else's space — that's why to encroach is to move into or take over land, time, or rights that belong to someone else.