foreclosure

Etymology

It is formed from English foreclose + -ure;^[2][3][4] the Shorter Oxford analyses it as fore- and closure.^[5] The verb foreclose is from Middle English forclosen (“to exclude from an inheritance”), from Old French forclos (“shut out”), the past participle of forclore (“to exclude”),^[6][2] formed from fors- (“outside”), from Latin forīs, and clore (“to close”), from claudō.^[6] According to the OED some of its senses arose from or were influenced by the identification of its prefix with for- (compare Old English forclȳsan (“to close, stop up”)) or with fore-, as in preclude.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A legal proceeding that ends a mortgagor's right to redeem a mortgaged estate: 1713 according to Merriam-Webster,^[7][8] 1728 according to the OED and Etymonline, in Vernon's law reports.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The noun belongs from the start to the law of mortgages.^[2][7] The verb it comes from had meant to shut out or exclude since 1413 and to preclude since the 16th century,^[2] and was first used of barring a right of redemption in 1704 and of barring the mortgagor himself in 1728, the year of the OED's first record of the noun.^[2] Black's Law Dictionary describes it as a proceeding brought by the lender, either to take title to the property or to force its sale to pay the unpaid debt.^[9]

Timeline

• 1713 – first known use according to Merriam-Webster.^[7]
• 1728 – the foreclosing of a mortgage.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A legal proceeding by which a lender ends a borrower's right to redeem a mortgaged property after the borrower fails to pay, usually to take the property or force its sale: After losing his job he faced foreclosure on the house.^[9][7][2]
2. An act or instance of foreclosing.^[7][10]

Word family

• antiforeclosure
• nonforeclosure

Related words

• foreclose
• close
• closure
• preclude

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin