abjure
Americanverb (used with object)
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to renounce, repudiate, or retract, especially with formal solemnity; recant.
to abjure one's errors.
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to renounce or give up under oath; forswear.
to abjure allegiance.
-
to avoid or shun.
verb
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to renounce or retract, esp formally, solemnly, or under oath
-
to abstain from or reject
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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abjurationnoun
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abjurernoun
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abjuratoryadjective
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nonabjuratoryadjective
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unabjuratoryadjective
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unabjuredadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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abjuresimple
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abjuressimple
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have abjuredperfect
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has abjuredperfect
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am abjuringprogressive
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are abjuringprogressive
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is abjuringprogressive
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have been abjuringperfect progressive
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has been abjuringperfect progressive
Past
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abjuredsimple
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had abjuredperfect
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was abjuringprogressive
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were abjuringprogressive
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had been abjuringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of abjure
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin abjūrāre to deny on oath, equivalent to ab- ab- + jūrāre to swear; see jury 1
Explanation
Abjure means to swear off, and it applies to something you once believed. You can abjure a religious faith, you can abjure your love of another person, and you can abjure the practice of using excessive force in interrogation. Abjure is a more dramatic way to declare your rejection of something you once felt or believed. When you see its Latin roots, it makes sense: from ab- (meaning "away") and jurare ("to swear"). When you abjure something, you swear it away and dissociate yourself with it. You might abjure the field of astrology after receiving a bad fortune, or you might abjure marriage after a bitter divorce.
Vocabulary lists containing abjure
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
If there was an abiding theme across X’s work and life, it was the attempt to subvert a fixed self, choosing to cycle through artistic personas and abjure her personal history.
From New York Times ● Mar. 18, 2023
Thus many find it fashionable to abjure party labels, insisting they vote “for the man” or “the woman,” as the case may be, independent of any partisan considerations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2022
By 1907, when Sargent was 51, he’d had enough: “No more paughtraits,” he wrote in a now-famous note, “I abhor and abjure them and hope never to do another especially of the Upper Classe.”
From Washington Post ● Mar. 5, 2020
People who are otherwise deemed sceptical abjure their reason and believe in miracles.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 10, 2019
In the case of the English Templars, William de la More, Preceptor of England, and Humbert Blanc, Preceptor of Aquitaine, refused to abjure because they would not confess to heresies which they had never entertained.--Wilkins,
From A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume II by Lea, Henry Charles
India abjures formal alliances, which it sees as constraints on its independence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
As in his Tony-winning revival of “The Color Purple,” he abjures almost all specific signs of setting.
From New York Times ● Oct. 30, 2022
Or, make that drama avoidance; this is a novel that abjures not just plot twists but plot advances.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2014
He abjures his cow pies for sunblush tomato and goat's cheese baguettes and begins to use a Remington Philishave.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 18, 2012
What we incorporate among the cardinal articles of literary faith, China abjures as a dangerous heresy.
From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2, No 3, September, 1862 Devoted to Literature and National Policy. by Various
Tunisia's army has historically abjured a political role and Saied has not yet tested the security forces by trying to mobilise them for a major crackdown on dissent.
From Reuters ● Dec. 18, 2022
He abjured the hunt for home runs, but his on-base percentage was high.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2021
His three Republican successors did not follow suit, Calvin Coolidge especially abjured such monarchical power.
From Fox News ● Jan. 10, 2019
LBJ might have been a man of elastic morality, but he pretty much kept to his ranch, wrote the required memoir and abjured buck-raking.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 1, 2015
In a sober ceremony, the Mexica abjured their old religion and embraced Christianity.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
As for abjuring Eurocentricity, the author himself refers to the “four allies plus China” that received permanent Security Council seats in 1945.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026
That did not mean abjuring love as a subject, but rather ennobling it while understanding its limitations.
From New York Times ● Feb. 26, 2018
Later Nate cites an additional, darker reason for abjuring female companionship: “You care a damn about a woman then you keep her as far away from this life as possible.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 11, 2017
I hope there’s to be no talk of Atwood’s abjuring magic, or any nonsense like that.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 15, 2016
Hence he crossed over to the Ohio River, and in the State of Mississippi, by five years' residence, and abjuring all other allegiance, became a citizen of the United States.
From Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, Vol. I. by Stephens, John L.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
