ouster

IPA/ˈaʊstə(r)/
KK[ˈaʊstɚ]IPA/ˈaʊstər/

ouster — noun

  • oustersingular
  • oustersplural

1. a forced removal of a leader, executive, or official from their job, usually aft

1.nounC1
Definition

a forced removal of a leader, executive, or official from their job, usually after a vote, scandal, or power struggle.

Example

The board's quiet ouster of the CEO surprised investors and shook the share price.

ouster of [person] — typical noun-of pattern

Andrés led the campaign that resulted in the prime minister's ouster last March.

possessive + ouster — 'X's ouster'

Common collocations
  • sudden ouster
  • forced ouster
  • political ouster
  • the ouster of [leader]
  • [leader's] ouster from power
Synonyms
  • removal

    broader; can be polite or neutral, while 'ouster' implies force or conflict.

  • overthrow

    stronger; usually political and often violent, whereas 'ouster' covers boardroom or institutional cases.

  • dismissal

    general firing from any job; lacks the dramatic, leadership connotation of 'ouster'.

  • expulsion

    throws someone out of a group, school, or country; not used for losing a top job.

Antonyms
  • appointment

    the opposite event: placing someone into the position.

  • reinstatement

    returning someone to the position after they were removed.

Grammar Patterns

the ouster of [person]

ouster from [position]

Usage Note

Frequently appears in possessive or 'of'-noun frames: 'the CEO's ouster', 'the ouster of the chairman'. Subject is usually a person in a powerful role (CEO, leader, minister, executive), not a regular employee.

Common Mistakes

The waiter's ouster from the restaurant was sudden.
The waiter's dismissal from the restaurant was sudden.
'ouster' applies to leaders or officials, not ordinary staff; use 'dismissal' or 'firing' instead.
She received an ouster letter yesterday.
She received a dismissal letter yesterday.
'ouster' is the event itself, not a document; it does not modify nouns like 'letter' or 'notice'.

2. in property law, the unlawful act by which one person keeps a co-owner, tenant,

2.nounC2
Definition

in property law, the unlawful act by which one person keeps a co-owner, tenant, or rightful holder away from land or a home they are entitled to use.

Example

Yara sued her brother for ouster after he changed the locks on their inherited house.

legal claim noun — 'sued for ouster'

The judge ruled that the locked gate amounted to an ouster of the other owner.

ouster of [co-owner] — core legal frame

Common collocations
  • claim of ouster
  • ouster of a cotenant
  • wrongful ouster
Synonyms
  • dispossession

    general loss of property; 'ouster' specifically names the wrongful exclusion of a co-owner.

  • eviction

    lawful removal of a tenant by a landlord with court backing; 'ouster' is the wrongful, no-process version.

Grammar Patterns

ouster of [co-owner/tenant]

Usage Note

Specialist property-law term; in everyday speech you would say 'kicked out' or 'shut out'. Distinguish from sense 1 (removal from a job): this sense is about land or housing, and the subject is usually a co-owner or landlord, not a board or government.

Common Mistakes

The thief committed an ouster on the bicycle.
The thief committed theft of the bicycle.
'ouster' covers land or housing, not movable property like bikes or phones.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All five words describe ending someone's hold on a position, but they differ in scope and drama. 'Removal' is the most neutral and broadest — it covers anyone from a clerk to a king. 'Dismissal' is the ordinary workplace term for firing an employee; it carries no political weight. 'Ouster' sits between formal and dramatic: it names the event when a leader, executive, or official is pushed out, often after a struggle inside a board or party, and it is most common in news writing. 'Overthrow' is stronger and usually political, suggesting a government or regime brought down — often by force. 'Expulsion' means throwing someone out of a group, school, or country, not from a job. Compare: 'the manager's dismissal' (routine firing), 'the CEO's ouster' (boardroom fight), 'the dictator's overthrow' (coup), 'the student's expulsion' (kicked out of school).

ouster ↗removal ↗overthrow ↗dismissal ↗expulsion ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • ouster vote
  • ouster bid
  • ouster attempt

Adverbs

Phrases

  • lead to the ouster of
  • call for the ouster of
  • survive an ouster attempt

Prepositions

  • from (a position)
  • of (the leader)

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchAnglo-FrenchEnglish

Borrowed into English in the late 1500s from Anglo-French legal vocabulary. The Old French verb 'ouster' meant 'to take away' or 'to put out', and in English courts it was used as a noun for the wrongful removal of someone from land. From the 1800s onwards the word broadened beyond property law into the modern sense of pushing a leader out of office.