abjure

American  

[ab-joor, -jur] / æbˈdʒʊər, -ˈdʒɜr /

verb (used with object)

abjured, abjuring

1. to renounce, repudiate, or retract, especially with formal solemnity; recant.

   to abjure one's errors.

2. to renounce or give up under oath; forswear.

   to abjure allegiance.

3. to avoid or shun.

---

abjure British  

/ əbˈdʒʊə /

verb

1. to renounce or retract, esp formally, solemnly, or under oath

2. to abstain from or reject

---

Other Word Forms

• abjuration noun
• abjuratory adjective
• abjurer noun
• nonabjuratory adjective
• unabjuratory adjective
• unabjured adjective

Etymology

Origin of abjure

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin abjūrāre to deny on oath, equivalent to ab- ab- + jūrāre to swear; jury ¹

Explanation

Abjure means to swear off, and it applies to something you once believed. You can abjure a religious faith, you can abjure your love of another person, and you can abjure the practice of using excessive force in interrogation. Abjure is a more dramatic way to declare your rejection of something you once felt or believed. When you see its Latin roots, it makes sense: from ab- (meaning "away") and jurare ("to swear"). When you abjure something, you swear it away and dissociate yourself with it. You might abjure the field of astrology after receiving a bad fortune, or you might abjure marriage after a bitter divorce.

Example Sentences

Thus many find it fashionable to abjure party labels, insisting they vote “for the man” or “the woman,” as the case may be, independent of any partisan considerations.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2022

But we should not want our spouses to abjure the companionship of others once we are no longer available to them.

From New York Times • Aug. 31, 2021

By 1907, when Sargent was 51, he’d had enough: “No more paughtraits,” he wrote in a now-famous note, “I abhor and abjure them and hope never to do another especially of the Upper Classe.”

From Washington Post • Mar. 5, 2020

People who are otherwise deemed sceptical abjure their reason and believe in miracles.

From The Guardian • Apr. 10, 2019

The successors of Theodosius modified these edicts, some of which menaced heretics with the prosecutions of the impartial judges, if they did not voluntarily abjure their errors.

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