abnegation

noun ab·ne·ga·tion \ ˌab-ni-ˈgā-shən \

Updated on: 7 May 2018

Definition of abnegation

formal

: denial; especially : self-denial

Monks practice abnegation of the material aspects of human life.

Examples of abnegation in a Sentence

the couple's sudden abnegation of life in the fast lane for work as missionaries stunned everyone

Recent Examples of abnegation from the Web

The individual photographs tell us virtually nothing, just as journalistic pictures are often empty of independent meaning, but the succession of images, page-by-page, is a steady beat of abnegation and self-abuse in the name of art.

— charles desmarais, San Francisco Chronicle, "Gagosian Gallery trains its lens on photography," 2 May 2018
The trend manages to cram a tremendous number of tedious affectations into tight quarters: design fetishism, ostentatious minimalism, costly self-abnegation.

— willy staley, New York Times, "When ‘Gentrification’ Isn’t About Housing," 23 Jan. 2018
For others, a drink is a way to rebel against a culture in which good parenting is synonymous with self-abnegation.

— elissa strauss, CNN, "Being a heavy-drinking 'bad mom' is more worrisome than funny," 1 Nov. 2017
Congressional self-abnegation fits hand-in-glove with the rise of presidential governance, or the misapprehension by the public that the president, rather than the Congress, is the centerpiece of republican government.

— jay cost, National Review, "Trump’s DACA Repeal Is a Pause in the Trend toward Executive Overreach," 11 Sep. 2017
In Austen’s work, romantic union is seen not as the pragmatic abnegation of the self, but rather as the hopeful realization of it.

— megan garber, The Atlantic, "Colin Firth's Shirt: Jane Austen and the Rise of the Female Gaze," 17 July 2017
Greatness, in the context of the administration’s economic ideology, is built on a ground laid thick with self-abnegation.

— ginia bellafante, New York Times, "Even in Liberal Cities, Budgets Push Austerity Into Starvation Territory," 25 May 2017
In the 20th century, aristocratic restraint became middle-class self-abnegation.

— nikil saval, New York Times, "The Ghosts of Turin," 10 May 2017
Those works stand at the extreme of a consecrated self-abnegation that governs all her art.

— peter schjeldahl, The New Yorker, "The Beautiful and the Unexpected," 27 Feb. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'abnegation.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Abnegation plays an important part in the teachings of all the major religions. The founder of Buddhism was a prince who gave up all his worldly goods when he discovered the world of poverty that lay outside the palace gates, and abnegation has been a Buddhism practice ever since. Hinduism has an even older tradition of abnegation. Special periods of abnegation and fasting may even be included in a religion's yearly calendar; serious Christians give up some pleasure for the 40-day period of Lent, for instance, and Muslims are forbidden to eat during daylight hours during the month of Ramadan.

Origin and Etymology of abnegation

Middle English abnegacioun, borrowed from Late Latin abnegātiōn-, abnegātiō, from Latin abnegāre "to refute, decline, deny" + -tiōn-, -tiō, suffix of action nouns — more at abnegate

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year