abnegate, v.
(ˈæbnɪgeɪt)
[f. L. abnegāt- ppl. stem of abnegā-re to refuse, to deny, f. ab off, away + negā-re to deny.]
1. To deny oneself (anything), to renounce or surrender (a right or privilege).
| 1657 Deuine Louer 12 The which will of ours I meane is lesse abnegated or mortified in or by matter of abstaynings or restreignings then in or by those of suffering. 1846 Grote Greece II. ii. vi. 534 Voluntarily abnegating their temporal advantages. 1861 Mill Utilit. ii. 23 All honour to those who can abnegate for themselves the personal enjoyment of life. 1870 Pall Mall G. 7 Sept. 1 To do so would be to abnegate the one claim they have on the popular allegiance. |
2. To renounce or abjure, as a tenet; ‘to deny,’ J. (The only meaning given by him.)
| 1755 Johnson Dict., Abjure: to retract, recant, or abnegate a position upon oath. 1775 De Lolme Eng. Const. (T.) They have abnegated the idea of independent rights of the people. 1858 Carlyle Heroes 312 (1858) The very possibility of Heroism had been, as it were, formally abnegated in the minds of all. 1875 Farrar Silence & Voices iii. 52 Man when he abnegates his God is a creature so petty, so foolish. |