seize

Meaning

1. (transitive) To deliberately take hold of; to grab or capture.
2. (transitive) To take advantage of (an opportunity or circumstance).
3. (transitive) To take possession of (by force, law etc.).
4. (transitive) To have a sudden and powerful effect upon.
5. (alt-of, alternative, transitive) Alternative spelling of seise (“to vest ownership of an estate in land”).
6. (transitive) To bind, lash or make fast, with several turns of small rope, cord, or small line.
7. (obsolete, transitive) To fasten, fix.
8. (intransitive) To lay hold in seizure, by hands or claws (+ on or upon).
9. (intransitive) To have a seizure.
10. (intransitive) To bind or lock in position immovably; see also seize up.
11. (UK, intransitive) To submit for consideration to a deliberative body.
12. (with of) To cause (an action or matter) to be or remain before (a certain judge or court).
13. (ambitransitive) Of chocolate: to change suddenly from a fluid to an undesirably hard and gritty texture.

Synonyms

grab

grasp

catch

capture

take

snatch

hold

arrest

grip

clutch

confiscate

apprehend

take hold of

wrest

nab

impound

occupy

appropriate

usurp

take hold

sequester

attach

conquer

snap

intercept

grapple

get hold of

rob

take forcibly

trap

🪤

detain

catch hold of

take possession of

get

gripe

take over

kidnap

take away

sequestrate

accept

🉑

take by force

remove

lay hold of

prehend

assume

expropriate

arrogate

vie

pull

abduct

Translations

saisir

ergreifen

prendre

attraper

🪤

afferrare

prendere

agarrar

greifen

grijpen

coger

capturer

fassen

fangen

capturar

agafar

Pronounced as (IPA)

/siːz/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: seisen

Cognate with Old English: sacian

Cognate with Old Saxon: sakan

Cognate with Old High German: sahhan

Cognate with Old English: sacan

Cognate with Latin: sagio

In summary

Earlier seise, from Middle English seisen, sesen, saisen, from Old French seisir (“to take possession of; invest (person, court)”), from Early Medieval Latin sacīre (“to lay claim to, appropriate”) (8th century) in the phrase ad propriam sacire, from Old Low Frankish *sakjan (“to sue, bring legal action”), from Proto-Germanic *sakjaną, *sakōną (compare Old English sacian (“to strive, brawl”)), from Proto-Germanic *sakaną (compare Old Saxon sakan (“to accuse”), Old High German sahhan (“to bicker, quarrel, rebuke”), Old English sacan (“to quarrel, claim by law, accuse”). Cognate to sake and Latin sāgiō (“to perceive acutely”).