disavowed

verb

past tense of disavow
1
as in denied
to declare not to be true disavowed the testimony that she had given earlier in the trial

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in refused
to refuse to acknowledge as one's own or as one's responsibility the government will disavow any knowledge of your mission

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 disavowed Rogers argued Sunday in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash that El-Sayed never disavowed the Muslim Brotherhood. — Erin Cox, Washington Post, 18 Oct. 2026 El-Sayed has since disavowed Piker’s controversial statements and ended plans for joint campaigning, but has not categorically repudiated him nor apologized for appearing with him. — ABC News, 20 Sep. 2026 El-Sayed has since disavowed Piker's controversial statements and ended plans for joint campaigning, but has not categorically repudiated him nor apologized for appearing with him. — CBS News, 20 Sep. 2026 Many politicians disavowed or walked back their anti-police stances from the aftermath of Floyd’s death. — Rohan Nadkarni, NBC news, 1 Sep. 2026 President Florentino Perez never publicly disavowed Mourinho’s divisive actions — and his ghost never really left the Bernabeu. — Dermot Corrigan, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2026 But Dark Willow has disavowed her previous self, except for one aspect. — Emily Temple, Literary Hub, 18 Aug. 2026 Davis has since disavowed some of his comments, but a judge ruled them admissible in court. — Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 12 Aug. 2026 Hong has also disavowed parts of the national DSA platform, such as abolishing prisons and law enforcement. — Phillip M. Bailey, USA Today, 10 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for disavowed
  1. denied
  2. refused
  3. refuted
  4. rejected
Verb
  • Peltola's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have denied having any involvement in his campaign.
    — Dan Mangan, CNBC, 1 Nov. 2026
  • The 30-year-old Williams couldn’t be denied opening the fourth quarter, immediately knocking down a pull-up jumper to extend the lead.
    — Jacob Lev, CNN Money, 1 Nov. 2026
Definition of denied
Verb
  • Faubus refused to remove the Arkansas National Guard and allow the Little Rock Nine to matriculate at the school.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 4 Nov. 2026
  • The race to represent Montana in the upper chamber had long been viewed as Alme’s to lose, after both Bodnar and Bankhead refused to drop out in order to consolidate the Democratic vote.
    — Claire Carter, The Washington Examiner, 4 Nov. 2026
Definition of refused
Verb
  • Ramaswamy has also refuted allegations his fortune came from misleading investors.
    — Philip Elliott, Time, 19 Oct. 2026
  • But Wright, the center’s attorney, refuted this, telling The Times that two investigations were done by independent third parties.
    — Audrey McGlinchy, Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of refuted
Verb
  • She’s gotten used to trying, and trying again; while applying for fiction writing classes in college, Adeyemi says, she was rejected five semesters in a row.
    — Wisdom Iheanyichukwu, Vanity Fair, 2 Nov. 2026
  • The three Republicans on the court backed the proposal, arguing the poll sites were underutilized, while the two Democrats rejected it.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of rejected

Browse Nearby Words

disavowals
disavowed
disavowing
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Disavowed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disavowed. Accessed 4 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of fulsome

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Old-Timey Vehicles

Ten More Words from Taylor Swift Songs

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
couple-laugh-cafe
Quiz: Foreign Phrases You Should Know Check out your bona fides and avoid any faux pas.
See All