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renounce

To renounce is to officially give up or turn away from. People on a diet usually renounce pizza and chocolate cake, for example.

The transitive verb renounce is a stronger, more formal way of saying that you reject or disown something. A prince who's tired of the royal life could renounce his title and become a commoner, or a senator who wanted to become an independent would have to renounce his political party ties. You'd be wise to heed the wisdom of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who said: “To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties.”

DEFINITIONS OF: renounce

1

v turn away from; give up

Synonyms:
foreswear, quit, relinquish
Types:
disclaim
renounce a legal claim or title to
Type of:
abandon, give up
give up with the intent of never claiming again

v give up, such as power, as of monarchs and emperors, or duties and obligations

Synonyms:
abdicate
Type of:
give up, resign, vacate
leave (a job, post, or position) voluntarily

v leave (a job, post, or position) voluntarily

Synonyms:
give up, resign, vacate
Types:
abdicate
give up, such as power, as of monarchs and emperors, or duties and obligations
Type of:
leave office, quit, resign, step down
give up or retire from a position

v cast off

“She renounced her husband”
Synonyms:
disown, repudiate
Types:
show 8 types...
hide 8 types...
apostatise, apostatize, tergiversate
abandon one's beliefs or allegiances
abjure, forswear, recant, resile, retract
formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure
swallow, take back, unsay, withdraw
take back what one has said
rebut, refute
overthrow by argument, evidence, or proof
deny
refuse to accept or believe
abnegate
deny or renounce
contradict, controvert, oppose
be resistant to
answer
give a defence or refutation of (a charge) or in (an argument)
Type of:
reject
refuse to accept or acknowledge
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