disavow

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
In Parliamentary politics, as in diplomacy, there is such a thing as having an agent whom you can profit by, and at the same time disavow--just as it may suit you.

View all »
Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. transitive verb To disclaim knowledge of, responsibility for, or association with.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • I have not kept a copy of my letter, but can assure you that you need not disavow a single word of it. —  Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt, Volume 2
  • The editors of the paper thought fit, I do not know why, to give it a title which I completely disavow, and which would certainly have never entered into my mind. —  Letters of Franz Liszt, Volume 1, "From Paris to Rome: Years of Travel as a Virtuoso,"
  • And how futile was such success in dealing with people who twist the truth in your mouth who without so much as a blush disavow the word they have just spoken, and in the very next minute take credit for it after all. —  Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf: Years of Study and Suffering in Vienna
  • Amnesty international disavow a Cannes Lions winner - did another scam ad get a Lion? —  Adland
  • The Humanist may resist, disavow, even disdain most traditional theological words and practices. —  UUpdates - All updates
More examples »
 

Tags

disavow hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 99 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

disclaim ·  forswear ·  pursueth ·  intendeth ·  walke ·  fot ·  ordaineth ·  telleth ·  answereth ·  beleeve ·  prevaileth ·  tolde

Used in the same contextWord Family

disavow:   disavowed
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English disavowen, from Old French desavouer : des-, dis- + avouer, to avow; see avow.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English desavouen, from Old French desavouer, French désavouer, disavow, from des- privative + avouer, avow: see avow.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/dɪsəˈvaʊ/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word several times a year.

Recently looked up

means · slayer · pattern · mdf · orderliness

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

a for 'orses · snarfillicate my snackrabbit · j for cakes · chic flick · rhodorhinorangifericide