disavow
verb
Dan Chu
Did you know?
When is a vow not a vow? When it has been disavowed, for one. Let’s say you make a solemn pledge to eat green vegetables every day of the week and twice on Sundays. If a few months down the cruciferous road you decide such a diet is for the rabbits, you might disavow (that is, repudiate or deny responsibility for) your earlier vow. Or perhaps you stick to it, going so far as to eat nothing but brassicas 24/7. Well, in that case, your local chapter of the Carnivore’s Club might illustrate another meaning of disavow by disavowing you (refusing to acknowledge or accept you) as a member any longer. Now when is a vow not avow? You might be surprised to learn that vow and avow/disavow are not related. Though all three words came to English from Latin via Anglo-French, they have distinct roots: vow comes from the Latin verb vovēre, meaning “to vow,” while avow and disavow trace back to the verb advocare, meaning “to summon.” We stand by it: there’s no denying that disavow has history.
Synonyms
Examples of disavow in a Sentence
Rebecca Schneid, TIME, 10 July 2024
On July 5, Trump disavowed the project, which was put together for the Heritage Foundation by former members of his first administration.
—David Faris, Newsweek, 9 July 2024
Rubio later disavowed his disses and fell in line behind Trump in the general election.
—Marianne Levine, Washington Post, 9 July 2024
Yet the bureau’s reports largely disavow much of its nationwide ownership stats from that year due to complications in data collection tied to various coronavirus lockdowns.
—Jonathan Lansner, Orange County Register, 22 June 2024
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“Disavow.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disavow. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
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disavow
verb
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