foreclose

CEFRC1

/fɔːˈkləʊz/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To take property because its owner failed to repay a loan.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To cut off (a mortgager) by a judgment of court from the power of redeeming the mortgaged premises.

Examples

  • The bank decided to foreclose on the unpaid mortgage.

  • The bank will foreclose on the property.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
3
Synonyms
4

Also pronounced

  • /foːˈkləʉz/
  • /fɔɹˈkloʊz/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To shut up or out; to prevent from doing something.

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

More examples

In context

  • They tried to avoid foreclosure.

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

  • The embargo with Spain foreclosed this trade.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The bank had no choice but to blank on the house after months of unpaid mortgage payments.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

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.