Abjure is one of those words I’ve run across but never really understood it’s meaning, or it’s writing potential. So I investigated the word to find out more about it. I found that abjure is a verb, defined as “to renounce under oath; to forswear; to recant solemnly; to repudiate; to give up, or to abstain from” according the American Heritage Dictionary and the Merriam Webster Dictionary. The Thesaurus lists recant, reject, deny, give up, and relinquish as synonyms. Guess that means finding out more about these words to get the fullest understanding of the word abjure.
Recant
Recant, a verb, is a formal retraction or disavowal of a statement previously made or a previously held belief . Synonyms include: recall, retract, take back, and withdraw.
Reject
The dictionaries define this verb as to refuse to accept, to submit to, to believe or to make use of, to refuse to consider or grant, to deny, to refuse to recognize or give affection to a person, to discard an object as defective or useless, to throw something away. As a noun, reject is something or someone that has been rejected. Synonyms listed in the thesaurus include decline, dismiss, refuse, spurn, turn down, deny, disavow, disclaim, disown, renounce, and repudiate.
Deny
Dictionaries define this verb as meaning to declare untrue, to contradict, to refuse to believe, to reject, to refuse to acknowledge or to recognize, to disavow, to decline to grant or allow, to give refusal to, to turn down, to turn away, or to restrain oneself from indulgence in pleasures. The Thesaurus includes the following synonyms: to contradict, contravene, or controvert; disaffirm, gainsay, negate, negative, oppugn, traverse, disallow, refuse, turn down, withhold, disacknowledge, disavow, disclaim, disown, reject, renounce, or repudiate.
Give Up
Give up, a noun, is defined as something relinquished or conceded; a give back. As a verb, to give up means to yield possession of something or to surrender; to desist from doing something or to abandon; to declare some condition or circumstance incurable; to abandon oneself to a feeling or influence or activity; to despair of seeing someone again; or, in the case of a pitcher in baseball, to allow a hit or a run. Synonyms include: deliver, furnish, hand, hand over, provide, supply, transfer, and turn over.
Relinquish
Relinquish is a verb meaning to withdraw or to retreat from; to leave behind; to give up; physically to stop holding something; to release; to give up possession of or control of something; or to yield. Synonyms listed in the Thesaurus include: abandon, abdicate, cede, demit, forswear, hand over, quitclaim, render, renounce, resign, surrender, waive, yield, abandon, break off, desist, discontinue, give up, leave off, quit, remit, stop, abound, cede, forgo, lay down, surrender, and yield.
Abjure has several meanings and synonyms. But the nuances are subtle, providing a narrow range of uses for this word. It will be interesting to find ways to use abjure.
No comments:
Post a Comment