repudiate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to reject as having no authority or binding force.
to repudiate a claim.
- Antonyms:
- accept
-
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
-
to reject the authority or validity of; refuse to accept or ratify
Congress repudiated the treaty that the President had negotiated
-
to refuse to acknowledge or pay (a debt)
-
to cast off or disown (a son, lover, etc)
Other Word Forms
- nonrepudiable adjective
- nonrepudiative adjective
- repudiable adjective
- repudiation noun
- repudiative adjective
- repudiator noun
- unrepudiable adjective
- unrepudiated adjective
- unrepudiative adjective
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; re-, pudendum, -ium, -ate 1
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.
To repudiate a doctrine accepted by the nation’s cultural arbiters gets you uninvited to their parties and called a fool.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 12, 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
“Happy Days,” in a way, was the ’70s using the ’50s to repudiate the ’60s, or at least the divisive aftermath of them that fueled the one-liners in Archie Bunker’s living room.
From New York Times • Jan. 15, 2024
It took the Court 74 years to repudiate that ruling.
From Salon • Nov. 15, 2023
This left me no course but to regret that I had been “betrayed into a warmth which,” and on the whole to repudiate, as untenable, the idea that I was to be found anywhere.
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
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.
