repeal
verb (used with object)
to revoke or withdraw formally or officially.
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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repealed,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these laws were repealed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used in the context of law: When a government decides to get rid of an ordinance or law, that ordinance or law is repealed. That means it is no longer in effect, like if the weather becomes unseasonably hot, the schools might repeal the part of the dress code to permit students to wear shorts.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
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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:
Voters have launched a ballot campaign to repeal the tax and bar the state and localities from enacting income taxes in the future.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
The repeal was slated to go into effect in December 2028.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
There have been hunger strikes demanding farmers' rights, affirmative action, environmental protections, anti-corruption laws and the repeal of controversial security legislation.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
Since then, French President Emmanuel Macron has endorsed the symbolic repeal of royal decrees that governed slavery in French colonies.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
As the news of the repeal was broadcast over the radio, stores like New York’s Gimbels and Bloomingdale’s immediately opened their liquor departments.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
Repeal of that restriction will ease the burdens D.C. residents bear for the federal presence.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 21, 2023
Repeal of the law was approved by Congress and then 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. 17, 2022
Repeal came a few days later on Feb. 1, when Mayor Rolph cited a downturn in infections.
From New York Times ● Aug. 3, 2020
Back then, it felt like a dream when I sat inside the court listening to both sides argue Petition 150 and Petition 234, now popularly known as Repeal 162.
From BBC ● May 24, 2019
The Repeal excitement, which was soothed for a time by the conciliatory course of the Melbourne Government, broke out with increased intensity when Sir Robert Peel rose to power in 1841-2.
From Sketches of Reforms and Reformers, of Great Britain and Ireland by Stanton, Henry B.
In agreeing to hear the pair of cases, the justices did not disturb the lower court rulings that blocked the repeals for now.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2026
Last week, the government introduced a new law that repeals and rebrands the scheme.
From BBC ● Dec. 22, 2025
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
When asked by Batch if someone wearing a mask for health purposes in public would be violating the law, a legislative staff member said it would, because the bill repeals the exemption.
From Seattle Times ● May 14, 2024
These acts are occasional repeals of that part of the constitution, which forbids the same persons to exercise legislative and judiciary powers, at the same time.
From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 1 by Randolph, Thomas Jefferson
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
DST, which also helped conserve fuel during the first world war, was unpopular with farmers and was repealed after the war.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
It repealed the zero-tolerance policy, going so far as to invite revoked dealers to reapply for new licenses.
From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2026
“That law was repealed as a failed policy,” said Shayla Myers, an attorney for the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles who has represented homeless litigants in lawsuits challenging city homeless policies.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
On March 2nd, the Senate passed the Kansas-Ne- braska Bill which repealed the Missouri Compromise restriction and divided the Nebraska Territory into two territories: Kansas and Nebraska.
From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry
“Changing that takes a lot more than repealing a law,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
By repealing Balogun's ban, it can only make life more difficult for them.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 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
Tuesday's vote came after the lower house last week backed repealing outdated slavery legislation that was never annulled despite the practice being abolished in 1848.
From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026
It is as if anyone who proposed repealing a stupid law, like the one forbidding interracial marriage, must be a black-cloaked, bomb-clutching anarchist.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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.
