abnegate means to deny (oneself something); to renounce or give up (a right, a power, a claim, a privilege, a convenience). Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
abnegate is pronounced /ˈæb.nɪ.ɡeɪt/.
Why “abnegate” is a great word
ABNEGATE — [Verb] To renounce or deny oneself something, especially a right, privilege, or comfort. From Latin abnegāre, from ab- ("away from") + negāre ("to deny"). First attested in English in the 1650s. Unlike "abstain," which implies a tactical, often temporary refraining from an action, or "abdicate," which denotes the formal surrender of a throne or office, to abnegate is to perform a quieter, more interior severance of what is inherently one's own. It is the ascetic choosing the stone floor over the bed, the parent silently passing their portion to a hungry child, the citizen deliberately forgoing a claim so another may advance—a willed hollowing that asks whether the self is something to be filled or something to be escaped.
verb
- To deny (oneself something); to renounce or give up (a right, a power, a claim, a privilege, a convenience).“To compel a state, upon theories of doubtful statutory interpretation, to appear as defendant suitor in its own courts, and to litigate with private parties as to whether it had abnegated its sovereignty of exemption, would be intolerable.”
- To relinquish; to surrender; to abjure.