Repudiate Meaning
/ɹɪˈpjuː.di.eɪt/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo reject the truth or validity of; to deny.
verbTo refuse to have any relation to; to disown.
Sentence Examples
My parents would repudiate my brother if they ever found out he was gay.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
Because the rumor was false, the politician had to ____ it publicly.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The politician was quick to ____ the claims made in the leaked document, calling them entirely false.
Word Origin & History
First attested in 1543; from Latin repudiātus, the perfect passive participle of repudiō (“to cast off, reject”) (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3)), from repudium (“rejection, repudiation, divorce”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The fierce willingness to repudiate domination in a holistic manner is the starting point for progressive cultural revolution."
— 2012, Bell Hooks, Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations:
"It was not enough just to shoot the Old Bolsheviks; Stalin had to have the show trials. He had to demonstrate publicly that these men of enormous energy and spirit were so utterly broken as to openly repudiate themselves and all they had fought for."
— 1976, Terrence Des Pres, “Excremental Assault”, in The Survivor: An Anatomy of Life in the Death Camps, page 60:
"I disagreed completely—and still do—with President Nixon's initiative to "normalize" relations with the People's Republic of China. The American people—against the will of the majority, if the polls are correct—have been forced to go along with the Carter administration's decision to repudiate our mutual defense treaty with the free Chinese regime on Taiwan, and to give Peking the diplomatic and economic muscle to seriously impair the security and prosperity of the seventeen million people on the island. This is a strange way to reward a loyal ally whose hardworking and creative citizens have made their country a model success story for the capitalistic free-enterprise system."
— 1980, Spiro Agnew, Go Quietly . . . Or Else, New York: William Morrow and Company, →ISBN, page 34:
"Chaucer […] not only came to doubt the worth of his extraordinary body of work, but repudiated it."
— (Can we date this quote?), Joyce Carol Oates, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
"If a man like Malcolm X could change and repudiate racism, if I myself and other former Muslims can change, if young whites can change, then there is hope for America."
— 1965, Eldridge Cleaver, Soul on Ice:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Because the rumor was false, the politician had to ____ it publicly.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The politician was quick to ____ the claims made in the leaked document, calling them entirely false.