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Glite Dictionary
to repossess

to repossess

26 5.8
To take back a house or car when someone stops paying
  • verb
  • /ˌriːpəˈzɛs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : recuperar
  • The contract let the furniture store, which knew her situation, repossess all items she had bought since 1957.
  • repossess the car

And she called me five years later and said she had lost all her money and her house was going to be repossessed.

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Examples

  • The mortgage company had been trying to repossess the house but had been denied twice by the judge.

    Blog text (19)

  • The bank's gonna repossess it.

    Money for Nothing (1993)

  • 'I am here to repossess your car.'

    Woo (1998)

  • I still remember the day they came to repossess it.

    Cocktail (1988)

  • Do you mean to tell me that your house has been repossessed?

    By Deception (2022)

  • After falling behind on her mortgage payments, Diane's house is about to be repossessed.

    Academic text (2009)

  • My car got repossessed.

    LOL (2012)

  • Look, I'm sorry, Mr. Foreman, but if these payments aren't made soon, the bank will have to start repossessing the property.

    Big George Foreman (2023)

  • After all, if the first borrower defaults, the lender can repossess the car and resell it at a higher interest rate to another borrower.

    Academic text (2016)

  • The bank decided to repossess the house after the owner missed several mortgage payments.

Synonyms

to take back
vsto repossess
99 3.0

Get back something you had given, lent, or lost

is limited to regaining property specifically after missed payments
to reclaim
vsto repossess
77 4.1

To get back something you lost or gave away

is used when property is recovered because payments were not made
to repo
vsto repossess
  • US
3 7.9

To take back property because the owner stopped paying

is broader, applying to any property taken after payment failure

Antonyms

to surrender
722 4.4

To stop fighting and give control or things to someone else, often when forced

to release
  • Formal
69 2.6

To give up a right, claim, or ownership of something

How Forceful

to seize
  • Formal
156 4.6
to repossess
  • Specialized
26 5.8
to reclaim
77 4.1
to request
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

repossess infinitive
repossessed past
repossessed past participle
repossessing present participle
repossesses third person singular

Morphology

repossess = possess (transparent) = re + possess

The meaning is a straightforward application of 're-' to 'possess': to possess again or take back into possession.

Etymology

Repossess comes from the parts re- meaning 'again' or 'back' and possess meaning 'to have', as in possession. So to repossess is to 'take back' something someone once had, for example when a bank takes a car because payments stop.