repudiate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
repudiates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
repudiated,
past participle, past
-
repudiating
present participle
-
to reject as having no authority or binding force.
to repudiate a claim.
- Antonyms:
- accept
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to cast off or disown.
to repudiate a son.
-
to reject with disapproval or condemnation.
to repudiate a new doctrine.
- Synonyms:
- disapprove, condemn, disown, renounce
- Antonyms:
- approve
-
to reject with denial.
to repudiate a charge as untrue.
-
to refuse to acknowledge and pay (a debt), as a state, municipality, etc.
verb
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to reject the authority or validity of; refuse to accept or ratify
Congress repudiated the treaty that the President had negotiated
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to refuse to acknowledge or pay (a debt)
-
to cast off or disown (a son, lover, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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repudiationnoun
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repudiatornoun
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nonrepudiableadjective
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nonrepudiativeadjective
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repudiableadjective
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repudiativeadjective
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unrepudiableadjective
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unrepudiatedadjective
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unrepudiativeadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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repudiatesimple
-
repudiatessimple
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have repudiatedperfect
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has repudiatedperfect
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am repudiatingprogressive
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are repudiatingprogressive
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is repudiatingprogressive
-
have been repudiatingperfect progressive
-
has been repudiatingperfect progressive
Past
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repudiatedsimple
-
had repudiatedperfect
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was repudiatingprogressive
-
were repudiatingprogressive
-
had been repudiatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of repudiate
First recorded in 1535–45; from Latin repudiātus (past participle of repudiāre “to reject, refuse”), equivalent to repudi(um) “a casting off, divorce” ( re- + pud(ere) “to make ashamed, feel shame” + -ium noun suffix ) + -ātus past participle sufffix; see re-, pudendum, -ium, -ate 1
Explanation
To repudiate something is to reject it, or to refuse to accept or support it. If you grow up religious, but repudiate all organized religion as an adult, you might start spending holidays at the movies, or just going to work. This verb usually refers to rejecting something that has authority, such as a legal contract, doctrine, or claim. In connection with debts or other obligations, repudiate is used in the specialized sense "to refuse to recognize or pay." If referring to a child or a romantic parner, repudiate is used in the sense "to disown, cast off." This verb is derived from Latin repudiare, "to put away, divorce."
Vocabulary lists containing repudiate
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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Grade 10, List 1
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1984
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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:
This signal turns to static if defendants are allowed to repudiate allegations to which they just agreed “without admitting or denying” these very same allegations.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026
He argues that the city could run them—simply fold the MTA and let New York State repudiate the debt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
In response, Allister said: "If Claire is trying to pretend that I am insincere in my condemnation of violence then I utterly repudiate and indeed resent that comment."
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2025
In seeming to repudiate capitalism’s imperatives, its success can seem surprising, even mystifying.
From New York Times ● Jul. 18, 2023
Burr, true to form, refused to make any promises to deliver New York to the secessionists, but he also would not repudiate the conspiracy.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Mediaset Espana, which owns Cuatro, said it "categorically repudiates any form of harassment or aggression. We fully support Isa Balado, reporter for 'En boca de todos', after the absolutely intolerable situation she has suffered today."
From Reuters ● Sep. 12, 2023
"Unilever rejects completely and repudiates unequivocally any form of discrimination or intolerance," the company said.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2022
“The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela repudiates this grave violation of human rights against a Venezuelan citizen, invested as a diplomat and representative of our country before the world,” the statement said.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 16, 2021
Deutsche Welle issued a statement about its decision, saying it repudiates “any type of hate speech or incitement to violence.”
From New York Times ● Nov. 22, 2020
He definitely repudiates a view often ascribed to him, and certainly advanced by many later empiricists, that the data of geometry are hypothetical.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 8 "Hudson River" to "Hurstmonceaux" by Various
Khamenei’s office later repudiated the comments as divisive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Some of those decisions aligned with some unitary executive claims, but others directly repudiated them.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2025
Companies that struck partnerships with xAI, including Oracle and Polymarket, do not appear to have repudiated Grok’s Nazism, much less reconsidered their deals.
From Slate ● Jul. 9, 2025
Asked about his claim – repudiated by Israel - that thousands of lorries were waiting on the border to enter Gaza, Mr Fletcher repeated that he especially needed to be "careful and really precise".
From BBC ● May 30, 2025
The first two sections of this book were devoted to two different ways that researchers have recently repudiated this perspective.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
The Vietnam War was raging, there were protests in the streets and their own kids were repudiating many of their values.
From Salon ● May 6, 2026
So one of the appealing takeaways from the biodoc “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley” is a repudiating of the typical narrative of inescapable fate, instead pursuing the richness of a gifted artist’s ups and downs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2025
Why did Barrett spill so much ink repudiating Thomas’ opinion when the two justices landed in the same place?
From Slate ● Jun. 17, 2024
The researchers now wanted to know whether these individuals would justify their decision retrospectively by repudiating climate change.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 2, 2024
In other words, if he did not answer Burr’s challenge, he would be repudiating his well-known convictions, and in so doing, he would lose the respect of those political colleagues on whom his reputation depended.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
