Word of the Day

: November 14, 2007

denegation

noun den-ih-GAY-shun

What It Means

: denial

denegation in Context

"The defendant's actions," the lawyer argued, "led to the denegation of my client's rights as a citizen."

Did You Know?

Even if we didn't provide you with a definition, you might guess the meaning of "denegation" from the "negation" part. Both words are ultimately derived from the Latin verb "negare," meaning "to deny" or "to say no," and both first arrived in English in the 15th century. "Negare" is also the source of our "abnegation" ("self-denial"), "negate" ("to deny the truth of"), and "renegade" (which originally referred to someone who leaves, and therefore denies, a religious faith). Even "deny" and "denial" are "negare" descendants. Like "denegation," they came to us from "negare" by way of the Latin "denegare," which also means "to deny."