foreclosure

foreclosure — noun

1. a legal process in which a lender takes ownership of a property from a borrower

1.nounB2
Definition

a legal process in which a lender takes ownership of a property from a borrower who has not made the required loan payments over a period of time

Example

Tamás lost his apartment to foreclosure after the factory in his town closed down.

collocation: lose [property] to foreclosure

The bank tried to help Folake avoid foreclosure by lowering her monthly payments.

collocation: avoid foreclosure

Common collocations
  • face foreclosure
  • avoid foreclosure
  • foreclosure sale
  • foreclosure proceedings
  • foreclosure notice
  • foreclosure crisis
  • file for foreclosure
  • stop foreclosure
  • foreclosure rate
Synonyms
  • repossession

    Repossession is the physical act of taking back the property; foreclosure is the broader legal process leading up to it. UK English prefers 'repossession' for both the legal process and the act.

  • seizure

    A more general legal term that applies to any property taken by authority, not just mortgaged real estate. Foreclosure is a specific type of seizure.

Grammar Patterns

uncountable in general use (face foreclosure)

countable for individual instances (three foreclosures this year)

Usage Note

Foreclosure is most often uncountable (e.g., 'face foreclosure' or 'avoid foreclosure'), but it can be countable when referring to individual legal actions ('the bank completed twelve foreclosures last month'). It appears frequently in compound nouns: 'foreclosure notice', 'foreclosure sale', 'foreclosure proceedings', 'foreclosure crisis'. This term is standard in US legal contexts; UK English more commonly uses 'repossession' or 'mortgage repossession' for the same process.

Common Mistakes

The bank made a foreclosure on my house.
The bank filed for foreclosure on my house.
'file for foreclosure' is the standard legal expression; 'make a foreclosure' is not used by native speakers.
I received a foreclosing notice from the bank.
I received a foreclosure notice from the bank.
'foreclosure' (noun) is used as a modifier before nouns like 'notice', 'sale', or 'proceedings', not the verb form 'foreclosing'.

Word family

  • foreclose
    verbB2
  • foreclosed
    adjectiveB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Foreclosure, repossession, seizure, and confiscation all describe taking property, but they differ in legal context and trigger. Foreclosure is a specific legal process triggered when a homeowner fails to repay a mortgage loan; it operates within banking and property law and typically involves a court-supervised sale. Repossession is a broader term used when a lender takes back any asset (car, equipment) after missed payments — it is more common in UK English than 'foreclosure'. Seizure is the widest term, used when any authority (police, government) takes property by legal force. Confiscation implies the property is taken as a penalty for wrongdoing, often by the state. For example, a bank begins foreclosure on a house after a year of missed payments; a finance company repossesses a car after three months of nonpayment; customs officers seize smuggled goods at the border; the court confiscates a criminal's assets after a conviction.

repossessionseizure ↗confiscation

Common collocations

Nouns

  • foreclosure sale
  • foreclosure notice
  • foreclosure proceedings
  • foreclosure crisis
  • foreclosure rate
  • foreclosure process

Phrases

  • face foreclosure
  • avoid foreclosure
  • file for foreclosure
  • stop foreclosure
  • lose [property] to foreclosure

Prepositions

  • foreclosure on [property]
  • foreclosure of [mortgage]

Etymology

Anglo-FrenchLatinEnglish

Foreclosure comes from the verb 'foreclose', which entered English through Anglo-French 'foreclore', meaning 'to bar' or 'to exclude'. This word was formed from the prefix 'for-' (meaning 'outside') and 'clore' (meaning 'to close'), which traces back to Latin 'claudere' (to shut). In medieval English common law, the term referred specifically to a court order that permanently barred a borrower from reclaiming a mortgaged property — 'closing out' their right of redemption.