1
as in to deny
to declare not to be true
he steadfastly disowned that he was having an affair
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to refuse
to refuse to acknowledge as one's own or as one's responsibility
the dictatorial father angrily disowned his rebellious son
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of disown
Despite his regular attempts to disown it, the Ukraine war has very much become Trump’s war on which US credibility now hangs by a thread.
—
Matthew Chance, CNN Money, 2 June 2025
Related Stories Will Forte Is Willing to Climb Mount Everest to Promote ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ After Looney Tunes Film Was Saved
Khan plays Rehan Roy, a notorious jewel thief working successfully abroad after his father (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) disowned him for his career choice.
—Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 25 Apr. 2025
Civil rights activists were assassinated, beaten, betrayed by friends, tortured in jail and disowned by their families.
—John Blake, CNN, 19 Jan. 2025
Spider-Man 3 (2007) A botch job of oppositional motivations practically disowned by its own director, the messiest Spider-Man movie is a near-constant tonal misfire, simultaneously more serious than its predecessors and more willfully goofy.
—Darren Franich, EW.com, 7 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for disown
Matthew Chance, CNN Money, 2 June 2025
Related Stories Will Forte Is Willing to Climb Mount Everest to Promote ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ After Looney Tunes Film Was Saved
Khan plays Rehan Roy, a notorious jewel thief working successfully abroad after his father (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) disowned him for his career choice.
—Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 25 Apr. 2025
Civil rights activists were assassinated, beaten, betrayed by friends, tortured in jail and disowned by their families.
—John Blake, CNN, 19 Jan. 2025
Spider-Man 3 (2007) A botch job of oppositional motivations practically disowned by its own director, the messiest Spider-Man movie is a near-constant tonal misfire, simultaneously more serious than its predecessors and more willfully goofy.
—Darren Franich, EW.com, 7 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for disown
Recent Examples of Synonyms for disown
Verb
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Alan Jackson, a lawyer for Joaquin, denied the charges.—
Luc Cohen,
USA Today,
12 Sep. 2025
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As press secretary, Jean-Pierre repeatedly denied reports regarding Biden’s mental fitness during his time in office.—
Hailey Bullis,
The Washington Examiner,
12 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The search giant has refused to license content from news organizations and publishers, while other AI labs have done licensing deals.—
Jeremy Kahn,
Fortune,
11 Sep. 2025
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For Jordan, that battle has meant staying grounded in his faith and refusing to let the disease isolate him.—
Essence,
Essence,
11 Sep. 2025
Verb
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But Democrats have long conceded that the party needs a new vision after voters soundly rejected their presidential ticket last fall, and internal squabbles about the party’s future have spilled out into the public.—
Mabinty Quarshie,
The Washington Examiner,
11 Sep. 2025
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China has rejected the accusation and accused the Philippines of damaging the coral reef ecosystem in the waterway instead.—
Nectar Gan,
CNN Money,
11 Sep. 2025
Verb
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That backup has since grown into a hundreds-strong campaign to refute the DHS allegations, which supporters call a resurgence of anti-Muslim fearmongering that has persisted across party lines since the 9/11 attacks 24 years ago this month.—
Hannah Allam,
ProPublica,
10 Sep. 2025
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Days after the hearing, the leader of the Pentagon's office to investigate UFOs provided testimony of his own refuting some of the claims.—
Eric Lagatta,
USA Today,
10 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Disown.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disown. Accessed 13 Sep. 2025.
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