disavow means to strongly and solemnly refuse to own or acknowledge; to deny responsibility for, approbation of, and the like. It carries an Arena rating of 1728, earned across 65 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, disavow ranks #902 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #2,168 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #2,836 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #3,138 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
disavow is pronounced /dɪsəˈvaʊ/.
Why “disavow” is a great word
DISAVOW — [Verb] To deny any responsibility for, knowledge of, or connection with something; to refuse to acknowledge or accept. From Old French *desavouer*, from the prefix *des-* ("opposite of") + *avouer* ("to acknowledge, avow"). Unlike "repudiate," which implies a public, forceful rejection of a former allegiance, or "deny," a broader declaration of untruth, to disavow is the strategic severance of a specific, often tacit, personal link. It is the cold statement distancing a government from its rogue agent, the meticulous editing of a biography to omit a disgraced mentor, or the quiet removal of a name from a project's credits—a formal uncoupling, a performance of non-recognition that confirms the very connection it seeks to erase.
Etymology
From dis- + avow, or from Old French desavouer.
verb
- To strongly and solemnly refuse to own or acknowledge; to deny responsibility for, approbation of, and the like.e.g.“He was charged with embezzlement, but he disavows the crime.”
- To deny; to show the contrary of; to deny legitimacy or achievement of any kind.e.g.“Because of her dissatisfaction, she now disavows the merits of socialism.”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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