abjuration

American  

[ab-juh-ray-shuhn] / ˌæb dʒəˈreɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the act of abjuring.

2. renunciation upon oath.

---

Other Word Forms

• nonabjuration
  noun

---

Etymology

Origin of abjuration

1505–15; < Medieval Latin abjūrātiōn- (stem of abjūrātiō ); see abjure, -ate ¹, -ion

---

Explanation

When you've given up your old ideas about something, or retracted a statement you made earlier, you can call it abjuration. Your conservative uncle might be frustrated at the abjuration of your former political opinions, especially if you become a progressive Democrat. Many people experience an abjuration of their religious beliefs, renouncing one faith for another or dropping religion from their lives altogether. When you abjure something, you give it up or renounce it. The Latin root is abiurare, "deny on oath."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

abjuration

This was not a strictly formal abjuration such as was customarily required of prisoners of the Inquisition, yet it might have sufficed.

From A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume II by Henry Charles Lea

The importance attached to the abjuration is illustrated by a case in the Inquisition of Toulouse in 1310.

From A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume I by Henry Charles Lea

Sibylla, wife of Bernard Borell, had been forced to confession and abjuration in 1305.

From A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume I by Henry Charles Lea

James Camus—"And before the abjuration, what did your voices say?"

From The Executioner's Knife Or Joan of Arc by Eug?ne Sue

If only a semi-proof of the crime exists, or if appearances will not admit of the acquittal of the prisoner, he shall make an abjuration as being either violently or slightly suspected.

From The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand VII. by Juan Antonio Llorente

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---