denunciation
(dɪˌnʌnsɪˈeɪʃən)
Also 6 denunti-, 8 denounci-.
[ad. L. dēnunti-, dēnunciātiōn-em, n. of action from dēnuntiāre to denounce, etc. Cf. F. dénonciation (13th c. in Littré), which may be the immediate source.]
† 1. Official, formal, or public announcement; declaration, proclamation. Obs. (exc. in senses influenced by 2).
| 1548 Act 2–3 Edw. VI, c. 13 §13 Upon Denunciation and Publication thereof [sentence of excommunication] in the..Parish where the Party so excommunicate is dwelling. 1583 Exec. for Treason (1675) 37 Finding this kind of denuncition of War as a defiance. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. i. ii. 152 She is fast my wife, Saue that we doe the denunciation lacke Of outward Order. 1649 Bp. Hall Cases Consc. iv. ix. (1654) 366 This publique and reiterated denunciation of Bannes before matrimony. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. 258 Why..a denunciation of war ought always to precede the actual commencement of hostilities. 1803 J. Porter Thaddeus i. (1831) 8 Anxious to read in the countenance of my husband the denunciation of our fate. 1859 Sat. Rev. VII. 29/1 A denunciation of coming hostilities. |
2. Announcement of evil, punishment, etc., in the manner of a warning or threat.
| 1563 Homilies ii. Rebellion (1859) 550 With denunciation of death if he did transgress and break the said law. 1612 Brinsley Lud. Lit. xxix. (1627) 292 That severe denunciation of our Saviour for this undiscreet anger..may humble us continually. 1737 Whiston Josephus' Antiq. x. vii. §4 The prophet..by the denunciation of miseries, weakened the alacrity of the multitude. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 195 ¶6 Full of malignity and denunciations against a man whose name they had never heard. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. I. 379 But if he still delayed his marriage, it was probably neither because he was frightened by her denunciations nor from alarm at the usual occurrence of an equinoctial storm. |
† 3. Sc. Law. The action of denouncing (a person) as a rebel, or to the horn. See denounce v. 4 a.
| 1579 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1597) §75 After their denuntiation of ony persones to the horne. 1592 Ibid. §138 In case onie denunciationes of Horninges, sall happen to be made at the said mercat Croce Edinburgh. 1752 J. Louthian Form of Process (ed. 2) 141 That..ye..relax the said ―, ― and ― from the Process of Denounciation led against them. 1861 W. Bell Dict. Law Scotl. 274/2 The consequences of denunciation, whether on account of civil or criminal matters, were formerly highly penal. |
4. Accusation before a public prosecutor; delation.
| 1588 Fraunce Lawiers Log. i. xii. 53, I take a presentment to bee a meere denuntiation of the jurors themselves, or of some other officer without any other information. 1726 Ayliffe Parergon 210 There are three ways of Proceeding in Criminal Causes, viz., by Accusation, Denunciation, and Inquisition. |
5. The action or an act of denouncing as evil; public condemnation or inveighing against.
| 1842 Mech. Mag. XXXVI. 6 Denunciation on denunciation has been fulminated from the press—and yet the companies have adhered..to their life-and-limb-destroying practices. 1874 Green Short Hist. vii. §5. 395 A hot denunciation of the Scottish claim. |
6. The action of denouncing (v. 7) a treaty, etc.
| 1885 Act 48–9 Vict. c. 49 Sched. Art. xvi, If one of the Signatory Powers denounce the Convention, such denunciation shall have effect only as regards that Power. |