disclaim

Disclaim most generally means to deny any involvement or interest in something—to disavow or disown.

It’s often used in a legal context to reject responsibility for something or to renounce a claim or the rights to something.

The noun form of disclaim is disclaimer, which refers to a statement or document intended to limit the responsibility or legal liability of a company, organization, or person. Disclaimers typically claim that the party issuing the disclaimer is NOT responsible for certain risks or is NOT affiliated with certain other parties—they make as many statements as they can to disclaim any responsibility.

Example: It says right here that the parties to this contract disclaim any responsibility for lost revenue resulting from the agreement.

The first records of disclaim come from the 1400s. It comes from the Anglo-French word disclaimer and uses the prefix dis– to indicate a reversal or negation.

The opposite of claiming responsibility is disclaiming it. In a general sense, disclaim typically means to make a statement intended to disavow something in order to avoid responsibility for it, as in The senator is trying to disclaim any association with the hate group. 

Disclaim is used more specifically in a legal context in reference to disclaimers. Instead of making positive claims, a disclaimer typically does the opposite: it uses legal language to disclaim any association or position that may put the issuing party at risk of being sued. Disclaimers are used to specify or limit the obligations that could be enforced in a legally recognized relationship, such as between a company and its customers or a website and its users. Disclaimers, like those found in contracts and at the bottom of web pages, often make use of lengthy passages of legal jargon (sometimes called fine print), with wording like at your own risk and provided “as is” and not liable for any damages.

Disclaimers aren’t always so wrapped up in legalese. “Swim at your own risk” and “Beware of dog” are both common ways to disclaim responsibility.

What are some other forms related to disclaim?

• disclaimer (noun)
• undisclaimed (noun)
• disclamation (noun)

What are some words that share a root or word element with disclaim? 

• claim
• proclaim
• acclaim
• exclaim

What are some words that often get used in discussing disclaim?

• legal
• written
• clause
• waiver
• retraction
• renunciation
• disassociation
• information
• rules

Disclaim is most commonly used in a legal context to refer to what disclaimers do.

Good point. Whether or not a security vendors contract disclaims any/all liability, this lawsuit could be a future indication that cyber-insurance carriers are going to them post-breach if a large pay out is made.

Good thing vendors have business insurance to cover, right? https://t.co/5tCh3FNCjn

— Jeremiah Grossman (@jeremiahg) July 10, 2018

You can’t incite people to violence, repeatedly and explicitly, and then disclaim responsibility when violence in fact breaks out.

— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) March 12, 2016

"There are those whites who will completely disclaim responsibility for the country's inhumanity to the Black man" – Steve Biko #Biko40Years

— SteveBikoFoundation (@BikoFoundation) September 16, 2017

True or False? 

When you disclaim something, you take responsibility for it.