abrogate
English
WOTD – 22 September 2009
Etymology
First attested in 1526, from Middle English abrogat (“abolished”), from Latin abrogātus, perfect passive participle of abrogō (“repealed”), formed from ab (“away”) + rogō (“ask, inquire, propose”). See rogation.
Pronunciation
Verb
abrogate (third-person singular simple present abrogates, present participle abrogating, simple past and past participle abrogated)
- (transitive) To annul by an authoritative act; to abolish by the authority of the maker or her or his successor; to repeal; — applied to the repeal of laws, decrees, ordinances, the abolition of customs, etc. [First attested in the early 16th century.][2]
- 1660, Robert South, “The Scribe instructed, &c.”, in Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume 2, page 252:
- But let us look a little further, and see whether the New Testament abrogates what we see so frequently used in the Old.
- 1796, Edmund Burke, Letter I. On the Overtures of Peace.:
- Whose laws, like those of the Medes and Persian, they cannot alter or abrogate.
- 1660, Robert South, “The Scribe instructed, &c.”, in Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume 2, page 252:
- (transitive) To put an end to; to do away with. [First attested in the early 16th century.][2]
- (molecular biology, transitive) To block a process or function.
Synonyms
- (to annul by authoritative act): abolish, annul, countermand, invalidate, nullify, overrule, overturn, quash, repeal, rescind, retract, reverse, revoke, set aside, supersede, suspend, undo, veto, void, waive, withdraw
- (to put an end to): abjure, annihilate, cancel, dissolve, do away with, end, obliterate, obviate, recant, subvert, terminate, vitiate, wipe out
Antonyms
Related terms
Translations
to annul by an authoritative act
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Adjective
abrogate (not comparable)
- (archaic) Abrogated; abolished. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).][2]
- 1979, Cormac McCarthy, Suttree, Random House, page 4:
- Where hunters and woodcutters once slept in their boots by the dying light of their thousand fires and went on, old teutonic forebears with eyes incandesced by the visionary light of a massive rapacity, wave on wave of the violent and insane, their brains stoked with spoorless analogues of all that was, lean aryans with their abrogate semitic chapbook reenacting the dramas and parables therein and mindless and pale with a longing that nothing save dark's total restitution could appease.
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References
- Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 [1998], →ISBN), page 4
- “abrogate” in Lesley Brown, editor, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 8.
Italian
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /a.broˈɡaː.te/, [a.brɔˈɡaː.tɛ]
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