repudiate









repudiate


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

  1. to reject as having no authority or binding force: to repudiate a claim.
  2. to cast off or disown: to repudiate a son.
  3. to reject with disapproval or condemnation: to repudiate a new doctrine.
  4. to reject with denial: to repudiate a charge as untrue.
  5. to refuse to acknowledge and pay (a debt), as a state, municipality, etc.

verb (tr)

  1. to reject the authority or validity of; refuse to accept or ratifyCongress repudiated the treaty that the President had negotiated
  2. to refuse to acknowledge or pay (a debt)
  3. to cast off or disown (a son, lover, etc)
v.

1540s, “to cast off by divorce,” from Latin repudiatus, past participle of repudiare “to cast off, put away, divorce, reject, scorn, disdain,” from repudium “divorce, rejection, a putting away, dissolution of marriage,” from re- “back, away” (see re-) + pudium, probably related to pes-/ped- “foot” [Barnhart]. If this is so, the original notion may be of kicking something away, but folk etymology commonly connects it with pudere “cause shame to.” Of opinions, conduct, etc., “to refuse to acknowledge,” attested from 1824. Earliest in English as an adjective meaning “divorced, rejected, condemned” (mid-15c.). Related: Repudiated; repudiating.

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