repeal
verb (used with object)
to revoke or withdraw formally or officially.
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Repai.
repeal
American
[ri-peel]
/ rɪˈpil /
verb (used with object)
-
repeals,
present (3rd person singular)
-
repealed,
past participle, past
-
repealing
present participle
-
to revoke or withdraw formally or officially.
to repeal a grant.
-
to revoke or annul (a law, tax, duty, etc.) by express legislative enactment; abrogate.
- Synonyms:
- invalidate, rescind, abolish, nullify
noun
repeal
1
British
/ rɪˈpiːl /
verb
-
to annul or rescind officially (something previously ordered); revoke
these laws were repealed
-
obsolete to call back (a person) from exile
noun
Repeal
2
British
/ rɪˈpiːl /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
repealabilitynoun
-
repealablenessnoun
-
repealernoun
-
unrepealabilitynoun
-
nonrepealableadjective
-
repealableadjective
-
unrepealableadjective
-
unrepealedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
repealsimple
-
repealssimple
-
have repealedperfect
-
has repealedperfect
-
am repealingprogressive
-
are repealingprogressive
-
is repealingprogressive
-
have been repealingperfect progressive
-
has been repealingperfect progressive
Past
-
repealedsimple
-
had repealedperfect
-
was repealingprogressive
-
were repealingprogressive
-
had been repealingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of repeal
1275–1325; Middle English repelen < Anglo-French repeler, equivalent to re- re- + ( a ) peler to appeal
Explanation
To repeal something — usually a law, ordinance or public policy — is to take it back. For example, dog lovers might want the town council to repeal the law that says residents can have no more than four dogs. The verb repeal comes from the Anglo-French word repeler, “to call back.” Repeal is almost always used in the context of law: When a government decides to get rid of an ordinance or law, that ordinance or law is repealed. That means it is no longer in effect, like if the weather becomes unseasonably hot, the schools might repeal the part of the dress code to permit students to wear shorts.
Vocabulary lists containing repeal
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Vocabulary from the Third and Final Presidential Debate, October 19, 2016
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The American Revolution - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The UN Human Rights Council on Monday unanimously urged the Taliban to repeal all practices restricting the fundamental freedoms of women and girls, saying Afghanistan's institutionalised discrimination should shock humanity.
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
Despite the changing opinions, Minsker, of the California Anti-Death Penalty Coalition, said there’s little appetite for another repeal attempt because of how expensive ballot measure campaigns have become.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
Givan announced his department was to repeal the SDC criterion and was launching a consultation, external to gather views on whether new legislation was also needed.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
This is how tariffs work in practice, and once in place they are difficult to repeal as lobbies form to defend them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
The protesters had issued an ultimatum, demanding that the government repeal the Black Act.
From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson
Some have called in the "Art of the Repeal".
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2025
Repeal of that restriction will ease the burdens D.C. residents bear for the federal presence.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 21, 2023
“They did that through canvassing: going door-to-door, knocking, and having conversations,” said Sinéad Kennedy, a member of Together for Yes’ national executive committee and co-founder of the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth Amendment.
From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2022
Repeal of the law was approved by Congress and President Barack Obama in late 2010 and took effect nine months later, allowing lesbian, gay and bisexual people to serve openly.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 24, 2021
And Sir Alexander Arbuthnot, in his Minute on the Repeal of the Cotton Duties, notes the fact as “a grave political danger.”
From The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, October 1879 by Various
"So if there were laws in our statute book in 1994, the constitution explicitly says they remain in force until parliament repeals them, abolishes them or changes them," he adds.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
A major wave of repeals took place in 1985, when Minnesota, South Carolina, and Texas eliminated their blue laws.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 20, 2025
And these repeals would bar the targeted agency from ever taking a “substantially” similar action again.
From Slate ● May 14, 2025
The new policy repeals the previous code, which banned camping only at parks and the beach.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2025
Virginia repeals that ordinance, annuls that bond of union, breaks that link of confederation.
From American Eloquence, Volume 4 Studies In American Political History (1897) by Alexander Johnston
Constitutional law expert Prof Frans Viljoen believes having the old law repealed is important because it would help to "clean up" the legislation and "close a chapter on the past".
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
Despite this, the ABA has enjoyed an accreditation monopoly, which state policies have further entrenched, though some of those are now being reconsidered or repealed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Because the GPO has been repealed, her teacher’s pension will no longer reduce or eliminate her spousal benefit.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
So many states had repealed so many firearm regulations that the District of Columbia’s stringent handgun ban looked like a true outlier.
From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026
He opened South African beaches to people of all colors, and stated that the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act would soon be repealed.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
“Changing that takes a lot more than repealing a law,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
But it soon became clear that repealing the previous legislation was one thing; how to replace it quite another.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
However, repealing the earnings test would likely lead to more people claiming Social Security early, hastening the system’s impending insolvency.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026
Max Mathiasin, a lawmaker from the former colony turned overseas territory of Guadeloupe who is championing the bill, last week said repealing the decrees would be a "powerful symbolic and political gesture".
From Barron's ● May 28, 2026
Professor Dash asked me whether I took any encouragement from the government’s stated intention of repealing die mixed-marriage laws and certain other apartheid statutes.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
