abnegation

noun

ab·​ne·​ga·​tion ˌab-ni-ˈgā-shən 

formal

: denial

especially : self-denial

Monks practice abnegation of the material aspects of human life.

Synonyms

• renouncement
• renunciation
• repudiation
• self-denial

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 on the Web

Is that an abnegation of interviewer responsibility? —David Marchese David Marchese Photograph By Mamadi Doumbouya, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2023

In the latter’s rewrite of the Lancelot fable, the abducted Guinevere was elevated to a glamorous ice queen commanding knightly self-abnegation. —Tina Brown, New York Times, 15 Dec. 2022

The life that Alharthi describes is one of almost saintly self-abnegation. —Ron Charles, Washington Post, 24 May 2022

His naïve insolence punctures the vanities of other filmmakers while offering no alternative, and the movie that results is a joyless, confused self-abnegation. —Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 11 Apr. 2022

That abnegation of critical judgment is the most important feature of the 1994 statement. —Michael Bérubé, The New Republic, 21 Mar. 2022

Where to go in a world where every slight, every frown, every chagrin, every cloud and every rainy day is a cause for outrage, denunciation, shame, self-abnegation and maybe even a congressional investigation or two? —WSJ, 14 June 2021

Many performers practice public self-abnegation about their talent. —Washington Post, 12 May 2021

That abnegation is an illness that has reached pandemic-level proportions under the panopticon of white-supremacist patriarchy, which seeds division among women through social pressure. —Washington Post, 28 Mar. 2021

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Word History

Etymology

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

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing abnegation

• self-abnegation

• self-abnegation