Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To disclaim knowledge of, responsibility for, or association with.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To disown; disclaim knowledge of, responsibility for, or connection with; repudiate; deny concurrence in or approval of; refuse to own or acknowledge; disclaim.
- To deny; disprove.
Wiktionary
- v. To refuse strongly and solemnly to own or acknowledge; to deny responsibility for, approbation of, and the like; to disclaim; to disown.
- v. To deny; to show the contrary of; to disprove.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To refuse strongly and solemnly to own or acknowledge; to deny responsibility for, approbation of, and the like; to disclaim; to disown.
- v. To deny; to show the contrary of; to disprove.
WordNet 3.0
- v. refuse to acknowledge; disclaim knowledge of; responsibility for, or association with
Etymologies
- Middle English disavowen, from Old French desavouer : des-, dis- + avouer, to avow; see avow.
Examples
“Then, as now, the issue was the Palestinians' maximalist demands and the refusal of the State Department to insist that the Palestinians "disavow" an agenda that would spell the demise of the Jewish state.”
“I have to say, as a Die Hard Mode fan, that Just Can't Get Enough is one of the tracks I kind of disavow a little ...”
“He's not going to 'disavow' it, whatever that means in this context.”
Is Bobby Jindal -- Who May Be On McCain's Veep Shortlist -- An Exorcist?
“He needs to 'disavow' that community and its leaders entirely!" many will decry.”
“Of course, St John will "disavow" every single smear and the press will give him credit for being a stand up guy.”
“In answer to another question, she said she didn't know if any 9-11 Truthers were on her staff, and she wouldn't "disavow" (Beck's term) anyone for their opinion on that topic.”
“Positioned on the other side of the argument is the Association of National Advertisers, which has asked the commission to "disavow" any effort to add commercials to the content ratings menu, saying that Congress 'instruction to the FCC to conduct a study was not be treated as an "invitation to regulate.”
“His appeal mischaracterizes Robinson's actions, claiming the judge was "offended" that Kerik's supporters "had proclaimed his innocence and criticized the prosecution prior to the plea, and Mr. Kerik did not 'disavow' these statements. ...”
The Huffington Post: Len Levitt: Standing Up for Bernie Kerik
“disavow' any advisers known to hold certain beliefs about 9/11.”
“We disavow any single causal interpretation of historical trends—too many different things are going on in modern society for any simple story to be explanatory.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘disavow’.
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SAT words
tergiversate, cymotrichous, vigilance, wince, consternation, cower, neutralize, euphony, cacophony, misanthrope, bibliophile, kleptomania and 81 more...
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dis-
away; apart; deprive of; cause to be the opposite of; fail
disapprove, dismiss, disbar, disable, disallow, dishonest, disunion, divest, differ, antidisestablishm..., disgust, disavow
Ido Berger כָּפַר, הִתְכַּחֵשׁ, הִתְנַעֵר
Eating Animals
Jul 11, 2010