Revoke Meaning
/ɹɪˈvoʊk/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo cancel or invalidate by withdrawing or reversing.
verbTo fail to follow suit in a game of cards when holding a card in that suit.
Sentence Examples
We don't think they have the ability to revoke your privileges.
They should revoke the driving license of motorcyclists who drive on the sidewalk.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The government decided to ____ his passport because he broke the law.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The court decided to ____ the defendant's bail after he failed to appear for a scheduled hearing.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Middle French révoquer, from Latin revocare, from re- + voco, vocare. Doublet of revocate.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[…] If, on the tenth day following,
Thy banish’d trunk be found in our dominions,
The moment is thy death. Away! By Jupiter,
This shall not be revok’d."
— c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
"I formd them free, and free they must remain,
Till they enthrall themselves: I else must change
Thir nature, and revoke the high Decree
Unchangeable, Eternal, which ordain’d
Thir freedom,"
— 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 124-128:
"They had just sat down at the bridge table, and Mrs Lackersteen had just revoked out of pure nervousness, when there was a heavy thump on the roof."
— 1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 22, in Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC:
"So well he did his busie paines apply,
That the faint sprite he did reuoke againe,
To her fraile mansion of mortality."
— 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 392:
"Yet she with pitthy words and counsell sad,
Still stroue their stubborne rages to reuoke,"
— 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 213:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The government decided to ____ his passport because he broke the law.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The court decided to ____ the defendant's bail after he failed to appear for a scheduled hearing.