abjuration

American  

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

noun

1. the act of abjuring.

2. renunciation upon oath.

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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

Denial, as we have seen, was obduracy, punished by the stake, and confession was a condition precedent to admission to abjuration.

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

A solemn recantation or renunciation; as, an abjuration of heresy.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Webster, Noah

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 Lea, Henry Charles

The act of abjuring or forswearing; a renunciation upon oath; as, abjuration of the realm, a sworn banishment, an oath taken to leave the country and never to return.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Webster, Noah

And certainly, since the great day of the abjuration of King Philip II in the year 1581, the country had not passed through any such violent crisis as it was now facing.

From The Rise of the Dutch Kingdom 1795-1813 by Van Loon, Hendrik Willem