- foreclose
- foreclose fore‧close [fɔːˈkləʊz ǁ fɔːrˈkloʊz] verb1. [intransitive] BANKING PROPERTY FINANCE if a bank or building society forecloses, it takes possession of someone's property because they have failed to pay back an agreed part of a loan:
• They ran out of money and the bank foreclosed.
foreclose on• Building societies may foreclose on a mortgage if the repayments are not kept up.
2. [transitive] to decide that something is not a possibility:• The government did not want to foreclose other options.
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foreclose UK US /fɔːˈkləʊz/ US /fɔːrˈkloʊz/ verb► [I or T] FINANCE, PROPERTY if a company, especially a bank, forecloses, it takes back property that was bought with borrowed money because the money was not being paid back as agreed: »Without written proof of defaults on payments, the bank has no right to foreclose.
foreclose on a home/loan/property »The building society will foreclose on a loan if the payment is four to five months late.
► [T] to prevent something from being considered as a possibility in the future: foreclose competition/a market/options »There was evidence of suspected market sharing agreements aimed at foreclosing competition and preventing access to the market.
be foreclosed from (doing) sth »EC operators are foreclosed from bidding in Massachusetts on non-trade grounds.
Financial and business terms. 2012.