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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To fail to carry out a promise or commitment: reneged on the contract at the last minute.
  2. v. Games To fail to follow suit in cards when able and required by the rules to do so.
  3. v. To renounce; disown.
  4. n. The act of reneging.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To deny; disown; renounce.
  2. To deny.
  3. In card-playing, to play a card that is not of the suit led (as is allowable in some games); also, by extension, to revoke. Also renig.

Wiktionary

  1. v. To break a promise or commitment; to go back on one's word.
  2. v. In a card game, to break one's commitment to follow suit when capable.
  3. v. To deny; to renounce

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To deny; to disown.
  2. v. To deny.
  3. v. To fail to keep (a commitment or promise); -- often used with on.
  4. v. To revoke; to play a card that cannot legally be played according to the rules.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. fail to fulfill a promise or obligation
  2. n. the mistake of not following suit when able to do so

Etymologies

  1. Medieval Latin renegāre, to deny; see renegade.

Examples

  • “After N-Data tried to "renege" on the original agreement, and tried to increase the royalty payment, the FTC decided to take action.”

    FTC Looking to Break Down "Patent Walls" For Standardized Technologies

  • “Mr. Cuomo said the New Orleans-based company agreed not to "renege" on its contract to pay $432 million to the New York Power Authority over the length of the revenue-sharing agreement, which runs through 2014.”

    The Wall Street Journal: Entergy, New York Reach Deal

  • “The government fears that Pfizer will "renege" on this undertaking, he said.”

    ANC Daily News Briefing

  • “Dictionaries state that "renege" means to go back on one's word and that "reneger" is the noun form of the word.”

    Council Fails To Deal With Crime

  • “I mean, didn't you kind of renege on the agreement here?”

    CNN Transcript May 16, 2002

  • “The colleague, a friend, told me he had been advised that "renege" was off-limits, especially in conversations involving African-Americans, because it suggested the outdated term "Negro.”

    chicagotribune.com -

  • “The headline on the Republican Jewish Coalition's press release today [April 14, 2009] calls on President Obama to stop the "equivocating and flip-flopping" on the Durban II conference, and the release expresses concern that the president might "renege" on his promised boycott of the conference.”

    NJDC Blog

  • “No, "renege" doesn't mean what you think it means.”

    Yannone

  • “renege" on the plea agreement because judges aren't bound by plea agreements.”

    Latest Articles

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‘renege’ has been looked up 3265 times, loved by 3 people, added to 49 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 7.