repudiate

[ ri-pyoo-dee-eyt ]

See synonyms for repudiate on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),re·pu·di·at·ed, re·pu·di·at·ing.

to reject as having no authority or binding force: to repudiate a claim.
to cast off or disown: to repudiate a son.

to reject with disapproval or condemnation: to repudiate a new doctrine.
to reject with denial: to repudiate a charge as untrue.
to refuse to acknowledge and pay (a debt), as a state, municipality, etc.

Origin of repudiate

First recorded in 1535–45; from Latin repudiātus (past participle of repudiāre “to reject, refuse”), equivalent to repudi(um) “a casting off, divorce” (re- + pud(ere) “to make ashamed, feel shame” + -ium noun suffix ) + -ātus past participle sufffix; see re-, pudendum, -ium, -ate¹

Other words for repudiate

1	disavow, discard, disclaim
2	renounce, disown
3	condemn, disapprove

See synonyms for repudiate on Thesaurus.com

Opposites for repudiate

1	accept
3	approve

See antonyms for repudiate on Thesaurus.com

Other words from repudiate

re·pu·di·a·ble, adjective
re·pu·di·a·tive, adjective
re·pu·di·a·tor, noun
non·re·pu·di·a·ble, adjective
non·re·pu·di·a·tive, adjective
un·re·pu·di·a·ble, adjective
un·re·pu·di·at·ed, adjective
un·re·pu·di·a·tive, adjective

Words that may be confused with repudiate

repudiate , refute, refudiate (see word story at refudiate)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use repudiate in a sentence

The Wall Street Journal praised him effusively for repudiating Nehru's "xenophobia" and embracing the markets.
The Man Who Reinvented India | Noah Kristula-Green | May 24, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
As the latter conclude, “Morris is certainly free to disagree with us today, but only by repudiating his prior scholarship.”
A Second Response to Benny Morris | Daniel Levy | April 24, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
In 1993 National Review fired Joseph Sobran after repudiating what Buckley called his “contextually anti-Semitic” writing.
National Review’s Firing of John Derbyshire a Welcome Blow Against Racism | Peter Beinart | April 9, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
"We are all, men and women, united in repudiating this act of violence," said President Dilma Rousseff, in tears.
Brazil's School Shooting: What Happened Inside | Dom Phillips | April 9, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
Conservatives praising their old adversary; Labour repudiating him.
The War Over Blair’s Memoir | Peter Hoskin | September 7, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST

He drew up his spare person, with a terrier-like shake of the head and shoulders, as of one repudiating Mammon and all its works.
Marriage la mode | Mrs. Humphry Ward
Corydon was ashamed of this primitive self—she was always repudiating it, always shutting her eyes to it.
Love's Pilgrimage | Upton Sinclair
Mrs. Tyler issued a statement branding Clarke as a “weak-kneed quitter,” and repudiating him entirely.
The Modern Ku Klux Klan | Henry Peck Fry
Watterson gave it to him, repudiating every principle that Halstead stood for, reversing him in every expressed opinion.
Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, Complete | Albert Bigelow Paine
Yet in repudiating it, I gave dissatisfaction if not offence to many whose support the country cannot afford to lose.
Speeches and Letters of Abraham Lincoln, 1832-1865 | Abraham Lincoln

British Dictionary definitions for repudiate

repudiate

/ (rɪˈpjuːdɪˌeɪt) /

verb(tr)

to reject the authority or validity of; refuse to accept or ratify: Congress repudiated the treaty that the President had negotiated
to refuse to acknowledge or pay (a debt)

to cast off or disown (a son, lover, etc)

Origin of repudiate

C16: from Latin repudiāre to put away, from repudium a separation, divorce, from re- + pudēre to be ashamed

Derived forms of repudiate

repudiable, adjective
repudiation, noun
repudiative, adjective
repudiator, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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