repudiate

UK/ɹɪˈpjuː.di.eɪt/US/ɹɪˈpjuː.di.eɪt/

verbC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,376 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: repudiated, repudiating, repudiates

To repudiate is to reject something and refuse to be bound by it. Repudiate the claim, repudiate a debt, repudiate the agreement.

In contract law it is technical: to repudiate an agreement is to show you will not perform it, which lets the other side treat it as ended. The Latin behind it is the word for divorce.

Definitions of repudiate

1verbrepudiateTo reject something and refuse to be bound by it.C2
“The new government repudiated the treaty signed by the previous leader.”

repudiate is a rejecting.

Where it comes from

Latin repudiare comes from repudium, a divorce or rejection.

Latin
repudiātus
English, today
repudiate

Built from

repudiō · Latin — to cast off, reject
repudium · Latin — rejection, repudiation, divorce

1543; from Latin repudiātus, the perfect passive participle of repudiō (“to cast off, reject”) (see -ate), from repudium (“rejection, repudiation, divorce”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

repudiate in the wild

In such an instance, the authenticity is being "repudiated".
Non-repudiation
Austin, convinced tribal leaders to repudiate the rebellion.
Fredonian Rebellion
The unbound party may repudiate (reject) the contract, at which time the contract becomes void.
Voidable contract
The film direction is credited to Alan Smithee, a pseudonym used by directors who repudiate their involvement in a film.
Let's Get Harry
As it had already been agreed by Britain and her allies that Louis XVIII was to rule Corsica, he sent an order to repudiate the treaty.
Treaty of Bastia

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

repudiation

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