abjure

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure

Etymology

From Late Middle English abjuren (“to give up (something); to recant or renounce (something) under oath”), from Anglo-Norman abjurer, Middle French abiurer, abjurer, and Old French abjurer (“to reject or renounce (something) on oath”) (modern French abjurer), and from their etymon Latin abiūrāre, the present active infinitive of abiūrō (“to deny on oath, recant, renounce, repudiate, abjure”), from ab- (prefix meaning ‘away from, from’) + iūro (“to take an oath, swear, vow”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yew- (“(adjective) right; straight; upright; (noun) justice; law; right”).

In classic literature

Synonyms

recant, forswear, retract, resile

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