foreclosure
foreclosure — noun
1. a legal process in which a lender takes ownership of a property from a borrower
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
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
When Nadia fell behind on her loan, the lender began foreclosure proceedings against her.
Hyun's grandmother bought the house at a foreclosure sale for about half its market value.
A foreclosure can stay on someone's credit record for up to seven years.
- 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.
文法句型
uncountable in general use (face foreclosure)
countable for individual instances (three foreclosures this year)
用法筆記
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.