Repudiate

//ɹɪˈpjuː.di.eɪt// adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A divorced wife. obsolete
Verb
  1. 1
    To reject the truth or validity of; to deny. transitive

    "The fierce willingness to repudiate domination in a holistic manner is the starting point for progressive cultural revolution."

  2. 2
    refuse to acknowledge, ratify, or recognize as valid wordnet
  3. 3
    To refuse to have any relation to; to disown. transitive

    "It was not enough just to shoot the Old Bolsheviks; Stalin had to have the show trials. He had to demonstrate publicly that these men of enormous energy and spirit were so utterly broken as to openly repudiate themselves and all they had fought for."

  4. 4
    cast off wordnet
  5. 5
    To refuse to pay or honor (a debt). transitive

    "'[…] she dictated to Briggs a furious answer in her own native tongue, repudiating Mrs. Rawdon Crawley altogether […]'"

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    reject as untrue, unfounded, or unjust wordnet
  2. 7
    To be repudiated. intransitive
  3. 8
    refuse to recognize or pay wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Repudiated by a husband, divorced. obsolete
  2. 2
    Repudiated after betrothal or engagement. obsolete
  3. 3
    Set aside, rejected. obsolete

Synonyms

All synonyms
denydisavowdisownrenouncerenouncewelsh

Example

More examples

"My parents would repudiate my brother if they ever found out he was gay."

Etymology

First attested in 1543; from Latin repudiātus, the perfect passive participle of repudiō (“to cast off, reject”) (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3)), from repudium (“rejection, repudiation, divorce”).

More for "repudiate"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.