What does evict mean?
To evict is to legally compel a person to leave a property or piece of land, most commonly a rented home, usually because they have fallen behind on rent, violated their lease, or overstayed their right to remain. The word carries distinctly legal connotations: eviction is typically carried out through a court order or official process rather than by physical force, and landlords who remove tenants without such process may be acting unlawfully. Beyond housing, evict can describe ejecting anyone from a place — a spectator removed from a stadium, for instance — though this broader sense is less common. Derived forms include "eviction" (the act or process), "evictor" (the party doing the removing), and "evictee" (the person removed). The word traces back to the Latin evincere, meaning to conquer or overcome, entering English via legal usage in the early modern period. Because housing insecurity remains a pressing social issue worldwide, evict appears frequently in journalism, law, and public policy discussions, making it an important term for understanding debates about tenants' rights, landlord obligations, and the legal protections surrounding where people live.
To legally force someone to leave a property or land they occupy, especially through a formal process such as a court order.
"After months of unpaid rent, the landlord began proceedings to evict the tenant."
Typically used with a person as the direct object and implies lawful procedure rather than physical removal.
To expel or eject someone from a place more generally, without necessarily implying a legal process.
"Security guards evicted the heckler from the theatre within minutes."
This broader sense is less frequent than the property-related meaning but well established.
The word "evict" literally comes from the Latin for "to conquer out" — eviction is, etymologically speaking, a legal victory over the person being removed.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of evict
Evict derives from the Latin verb evincere, formed from e- (out) plus vincere (to conquer), originally meaning to conquer out or overcome completely. It entered English in the early 17th century through legal language, initially referring to the dispossession of someone from property by judgment of law. Its Latin root vincere also gave English words such as convince, invincible, and victim, all carrying the sense of overcoming or subduing.
Related word forms
How evict is actually used
"Evict" is largely neutral-to-formal in register and carries strong legal connotations; it implies due process rather than physical force. It is almost always used with a person (or group) as the object and a property or place as context — one does not usually "evict an idea" or "evict a feeling." The passive form ("be evicted") is very common in news reporting on housing disputes. In everyday informal speech, "kick out" or "throw out" often substitutes, but those lack the formal legal weight of "evict."
Easily confused with evict
"Evict" means to force someone out of a property, while "convict" means to declare someone guilty of a crime (as a verb) or refer to a person serving a prison sentence (as a noun).