ABJURE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does abjure mean? 

• ABJURE (verb)
  The verb ABJURE has 1 sense:

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

  Familiarity information: ABJURE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ABJURE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they abjure    ... he / she / it abjures   
Past simple: abjured   
Past participle: abjured   
-ing form: abjuring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

abjure; forswear; recant; resile; retract

Context example:

She abjured her beliefs

Hypernyms (to "abjure" is one way to...):

disown; renounce; repudiate (cast off)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

abjuration (a disavowal or taking back of a previous assertion)

abjurer (a person who abjures)

 Context examples 

On receiving this the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might fly from the country.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Now, the best thing you can do, sir, if you'll allow me to advise you,” said my aunt, after silently observing him, “is to abjure that occupation for evermore.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

In the taking of legal oaths, for instance, deponents seem to enjoy themselves mightily when they come to several good words in succession, for the expression of one idea; as, that they utterly detest, abominate, and abjure, or so forth; and the old anathemas were made relishing on the same principle.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)