trespass
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Enter unlawfully on someone's property.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
trehspasSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtɹɛspæs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
law
Enter unlawfully on someone's property
law
To enter someone else's property illegally.
intransitive
To go too far; to put someone to inconvenience by demand or importunity; to intrude.
noun
law
Entry to another's property without right or permission
law
A wrongful interference with the possession of property (personal property as well as realty), or the action instituted to recover damages
law
An intentional interference with another's property or person.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Entry to another's property without right or permission
Used this way, trespass is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Law/legal
- Government/politics
- Academic writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use trespass
- “Don't trespass on my land!”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An action brought to recover damages from a person who has taken goods or property from its rightful owner.
An action brought to recover damages from a person whose actions have resulted indirectly in injury or loss.
The defendant unlawfully enters the land of the plaintiff.
Trespass with force and arms resulting in injury to another's person or property.
Trespass that is not transient or intermittent but continues as long as the offending object remains.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.