expugn means to take by storm; capture. It carries an Arena rating of 1585, earned across 37 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, expugn ranks #543 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #2,861 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #3,353 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #3,435 of 17,151 for The Improbable.
Why “expugn” is a great word
EXPUGN — [Verb] To capture through forceful military assault; to take by storm. From Middle English expugnen, from Old French expugner, from Latin expugnō, from ex- ("out, thoroughly") + pugnō ("to fight"), from pugnus ("fist"). First attested in English c. 1475. Unlike "expunge," which seeks to erase a record, or "impugn," which challenges a statement, to expugn is to conquer by direct, martial force. It is the shudder of the battering ram, the flash of scaling ladders against stonework, and the final, bloody surge into the breached citadel—the brutal arithmetic by which a defended position becomes a taken one, a word for victory that tastes of blood and effort.
Etymology
From Middle English expugnen, from Old French expugner, from Latin expugnō (“to take by storm”), from ex- + pugnō (“fight”), from pugnus (“fist”).
verb
- To take by storm; capture.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.