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.
to annul or rescind officially (something previously ordered); revoke
these laws were repealed
obsolete to call back (a person) from exile
1275–1325; Middle English repelen < Anglo-French repeler, equivalent to re- re- + ( a ) peler to appeal
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used in the context of law: When a government decides to get rid of an ordinance or law, that ordinance or law is repealed. That means it is no longer in effect, like if the weather becomes unseasonably hot, the schools might repeal the part of the dress code to permit students to wear shorts.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
A repeal of the earnings test could push Social Security’s insolvency “right to our doorstep,” Adcock said.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 15, 2026
Colombia's foreign ministry criticised "the misleading presentation of the decision to repeal the tariffs as a goodwill measure by the Ecuadorian leader" in a statement on Saturday.
From BBC • May 30, 2026
She called the proposed repeal of the gross receipts tax “an existential threat to the city budget and the services it supports,” including street repairs, public safety and efforts to clean the city.
From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 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
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.
