abnegate
verbUS /ˈæb.nɪ.ɡeɪt/ · UK /ˈæb.nɪ.ɡeɪt/
Etymology First attested in 1657. * Perhaps from Latin abnegō (“to refuse, reject”) from ab (“away from”) + negō (“to deny”), * Alternatively, perhaps a back-formation from abnegation.
1
To deny (oneself something); to renounce or give up (a right, a power, a claim, a privilege, a convenience).
- To compel a state, upon theories of doubtful statutory interpretation, to appear as defendant suitor in its own courts, and to litigate with private parties as to whether it had abnegated its sovereignty of exemption, would be intolerable.1898 December 10, “Asbell v. State”, in The Pacific Reporter, volume 55, page 339:
- All ancient and modern histories of nations abnegate God.1875 January 23, Brownson's Quarterly Review, page 20:
2
To relinquish; to surrender; to abjure.
- Related terms
- abnegation, abnegator, abnegatory