Synonym Chooser

How is the word abjure different from other verbs like it?

Some common synonyms of abjure are forswear, recant, renounce, and retract. While all these words mean "to withdraw one's word or professed belief," abjure implies a firm and final rejecting or abandoning often made under oath.

abjured the errors of his former faith

When would forswear be a good substitute for abjure?

In some situations, the words forswear and abjure are roughly equivalent. However, forswear may add an implication of perjury or betrayal.

I cannot forswear my principles

When is recant a more appropriate choice than abjure?

The synonyms recant and abjure are sometimes interchangeable, but recant stresses the withdrawing or denying of something professed or taught.

if they recant they will be spared

When can renounce be used instead of abjure?

Although the words renounce and abjure have much in common, renounce may carry the meaning of disclaim or disown.

renounced abstract art and turned to portrait painting

When could retract be used to replace abjure?

The words retract and abjure can be used in similar contexts, but retract applies to the withdrawing of a promise, an offer, or an accusation.

the newspaper had to retract the story

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of abjure The Abrahamic faiths conceive of God as an omniscient creator and generally abjure gambling as a result; one of the first laws passed by the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony banned the possession of cards, dice, or gaming tables. Idrees Kahloon, The New Yorker, 2 Sep. 2024 In the end, de Hales agreed to abjure the realm, which meant walking, barefoot, to the port of Chester, a hundred and thirty miles away, holding a wooden cross and wearing sackcloth, and taking a ship across the Irish Sea, never to return. Sam Knight, The New Yorker, 12 Mar. 2024 Elite progressive educational institutions were unlikely to experience a radical moral epiphany the moment the Supreme Court made its ruling, and abjure their discriminatory impulses and racial fixations. The Editors, National Review, 8 Aug. 2023 This scenario—the Russian nationalist who abjures the war—is Ukraine’s quickest path to some sort of victory. Foreign Affairs, 24 June 2023 See All Example Sentences for abjure
Recent Examples of Synonyms for abjure
Verb
  • Who’s on Tennessee death row While the Department of Justice has renounced pentobarbital, Tennessee and about a dozen other states are pushing forward with the drug.
    Kelly Puente, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025
  • On Wednesday, Lamont praised Mamdani while noting that Democrats have hardly renounced centrists.
    Mark Pazniokas, Hartford Courant, 26 June 2025
Verb
  • Don’t say Discovery The language in the Senate bill avoids any mention of the Smithsonian, Space Center Houston, Discovery, or even the space shuttle.
    Robert Pearlman, ArsTechnica, 30 June 2025
  • Giving up athletics had an impact on her body and changes were required to avoid injury.
    Michael Cox, New York Times, 30 June 2025
Verb
  • The result will be an increase in preying on immigrants by the criminal element: robbery, protection scams, sweatshop labor and human trafficking, as the immigrant community withdraws from reliance on no-longer-safe court systems.
    Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 4 July 2025
  • The traffic receded as Chicago withdrew into the distance behind me on Interstate 90.
    Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 4 July 2025
Verb
  • The club has already foregone one potentially massive transfer fee with Trent Alexander-Arnold leaving for Real Madrid, and are in danger of that scenario repeating itself with Ibrahima Konate, who is now in the last year of his deal with no sign of an extension being signed.
    Andy Jones, New York Times, 3 July 2025
  • And note that those who are now actually making their student loan payments must forego other uses of those funds, a large portion of which was consumption.
    Robert Barone, Forbes.com, 23 June 2025
Verb
  • In 2023, more than 10,000 papers were retracted from research journals.
    Sheldon H. Jacobson, Twin Cities, 10 July 2025
  • Once airborne, the foils retract away into the hull, reemerging after landing.
    New Atlas, New Atlas, 9 July 2025
Verb
  • So with his conviction and prison stay, Larson was denied access.
    Savannah Leigh Richardson, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 July 2025
  • Paxton, during the trial, denied having the affair.
    Ty Roush, Forbes.com, 10 July 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Abjure.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/abjure. Accessed 14 Jul. 2025.

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