overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

foreclose.

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

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/fɔːˈkləʊz/Received-Pronunciation/fɔɹˈkloʊz/Canada, General-American/foːˈkləʉz/Australia/ˌfoːˈklɐʉz/Australia
  1. To repossess a mortgaged property whose owner has failed to make the necessary payments; used with on.

    transitive
    They have to move out of their house because the bank foreclosed on their mortgage.
  2. To cut off (a mortgager) by a judgment of court from the power of redeeming the mortgaged premises.

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

    transitive
Where this word comes from

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.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

foreclose has 9 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

foreclose studioforeclose workshello, foreclose

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.