abrogate

play

verb ab·ro·gate \ ˈa-brə-ˌgāt \

Definition of abrogate

abrogated; abrogating

transitive verb

formal

1 :to abolish by authoritative action :annul

abrogate a treaty

2 :to treat as nonexistent :to fail to do what is required by (something, such as a responsibility)_

The company's directors are accused of abrogating their responsibilities.

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abrogation

play \ˌa-brə-ˈgā-shən\ noun

See abrogate defined for English-language learners

See abrogate defined for kids

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Examples of abrogate in a Sentence

If UAL continues to bleed red ink, some analysts say bankruptcy—which would allow it to abrogate its union contracts—may be its only hope. —Business Week, 12 Nov. 2001
We may not always like what we hear but we are always the poorer if we close down dialogue; if we abrogate free speech, and the open exchange of ideas. —Nikki Giovanni, Sacred Cows … and Other Edibles, 1988
For their part, some of the pipeline companies saddled with these contracts for high-priced, deregulated gas have declared that they will simply abrogate them … —Barry Commoner, New Yorker, 2 May 1983
The company's directors are accused of abrogating their responsibilities.
the U.S. Congress can abrogate old treaties that are unfair to Native Americans

Recent Examples of abrogate from the Web

U.S. leadership here is critical, especially through a diplomatic and public education effort to explain a decision not to certify and to abrogate the JCPOA.

— john r. bolton, National Review, "How to Get Out of the Iran Nuclear Deal," 28 Aug. 2017
The bill, which would weaken President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act without abrogating it, was toxically unpopular with the American public, so Breitbart had deemed it Ryancare, thus implicitly absolving Trump of any responsibility.

— alexander nazaryan, Newsweek, "Breitbart News, Donald Trump’s Pravda, Is in Crisis," 15 June 2017
If avoiding any criminal consequences for his behavior meant hindering and even abrogating the FBI's work, so be it.

— jamil smith, Esquire, "The Signs Were Always There," 12 May 2017
Turkey has already threatened to abrogate a pact with the European Union that vastly slowed the migrant influx via its territory.

— tribune news service, Twin Cities, "Far-right populism falters with Dutch vote, but remains a powerful force," 16 Mar. 2017
The real issue is whether America will abrogate Barack Obama’s deal with Iran, recognizing it as a strategic debacle, a result of the last...

— john bolton, WSJ, "The Iran Deal Can’t Be Enforced," 6 Feb. 2017
Under that policy, the United States formally recognized the People’s Republic of China in 1979, abrogating its ties with Taiwan, as the Chinese leader, Deng Xiaoping, sought to bolster China’s economy and create closer ties to the West.

— mark landler, New York Times, "Donald Trump Thrusts Taiwan Back on the Table, Rattling a Region," 3 Dec. 2016

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

Should you abdicate, abrogate, abjure, or just resign?

Several words may be confused with abdicate through either a similarity of sound or of meaning. Among these are abrogate, abjure, and resign. All of these words have multiple meanings that are quite distinct from one another, yet each also has a degree of semantic overlap that renders them nearly synonymous with at least one of the others.

Abdicate is most often used to describe a head of state or member of a royal family voluntarily renouncing a position. It may also refer to the act of failing to fulfill a duty a responsibility. It shares this second meaning with abrogate (although the “failing to fulfill one’s duty” sense of this word is more common in the United Kingdom than in the United States). The senses of abrogate most commonly found are “to annul” or “to do away with.”

Abjure may be used to mean “to abstain from” or “to give up,” but often is used with the meaning of “to disclaim formally or renounce upon oath” (it comes from the Latin jurare, meaning “to swear”).

And finally, resign is often used with the meaning of “to give up one’s office or position.”

Despite the similarities among these words, they tend to be used in fairly specific settings. You would not typically tell your employer that you are abdicating your position in order to look for a better job; you would say that you are resigning. And when the king of a country renounces his claim on the throne to marry his one true love, he would be said to abdicate, rather than resign, his position.

Did You Know?

If you can't simply wish something out of existence, the next best thing might be to "propose it away." That's more or less what "abrogate" lets you do - etymologically speaking, at least. "Abrogate" comes from the Latin root rogare, which means "to propose a law," and ab-, meaning "from" or "away." We won't propose that you try to get away from the fact that "rogare" is also an ancestor in the family tree of "prerogative" and "interrogate." "Abrogate" first appeared in English as a verb in the 16th century; it was preceded by an adjective sense meaning "annulled" or "cancelled" which is now obsolete.

Origin and Etymology of abrogate

borrowed from Latin abrogātus, past participle of abrogāre, "to repeal (a law), repudiate, cancel," from ab- ab- + rogāre "to ask, ask an assembly for approval of" — more at rogation

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1520

See Words from the same year

abrogate Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of abrogate

nullify, negate, annul, abrogate, invalidate mean to deprive of effective or continued existence. nullify implies counteracting completely the force, effectiveness, or value of something.