repeal
verb (used with object)
to revoke or withdraw formally or officially.
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repealed,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these laws were repealed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used in the context of law: When a government decides to get rid of an ordinance or law, that ordinance or law is repealed. That means it is no longer in effect, like if the weather becomes unseasonably hot, the schools might repeal the part of the dress code to permit students to wear shorts.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:
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
In 2024 a referendum to repeal it failed, 49.9% to 50.1%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 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
“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 came a few days later on Feb. 1, when Mayor Rolph cited a downturn in infections.
From New York Times ● Aug. 3, 2020
Went to the Repeal meeting at the Corn Exchange.
From Julia Ward Howe 1819-1910 by Maud Howe Elliott
"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
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
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
Whereas parliament had listened to the pleas from distressed London tobacco merchants and traders in 1766 and 1770, members of both houses were increasingly of the opinion that the earlier repeals were a mistake.
From The Road to Independence: Virginia 1763-1783 by Virginia. History, Government, and Geography Service
Arkansas, Montana and South Carolina voluntarily repealed racial quotas for public bodies after lawsuits based on the Equal Protection Clause.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
“The ‘Full Fare Rule’ is a vital underpinning of modern flight shopping and must not be repealed or watered down in any way,” wrote Jason Rabinowitz on July 8.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 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
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
In 2020, I calculated that repealing the firewall would lead to $2.2 trillion in higher subsidy spending over a decade for the estimated 24 million people who would switch from employer coverage to the exchanges.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 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
Amid energy shocks in the 1970s, White House economic advisors in the Ford administration advocated against repealing the gas tax, which was four cents a gallon at the time.
From Barron's ● May 12, 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.
