1. the seizure or acquisition of land, especially by force or through questionable means
2. a rapid rush to claim or acquire available land or territory
Usage: historical

Examples

• The colonial landgrab displaced thousands of indigenous families.
• Critics called the development project a corporate landgrab.
• The Oklahoma landgrab of 1889 attracted settlers from across the country.
• Environmental groups protested the government’s landgrab in the national forest.
• The company’s landgrab strategy involved buying up small farms.
• Historians documented the systematic landgrab that occurred during westward expansion.