abjure

American  

[ab-joor, -jur] / æbˈdʒʊər, -ˈdʒɜr /

verb (used with object)

• abjures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• abjured,
  past participle,  past
• abjuring
  present participle

1. to renounce, repudiate, or retract, especially with formal solemnity; recant.

   to abjure one's errors.

2. to renounce or give up under oath; forswear.

   to abjure allegiance.

3. to avoid or shun.

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abjure British  

/ əbˈdʒʊə /

verb

1. to renounce or retract, esp formally, solemnly, or under oath

2. to abstain from or reject

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• abjuration
  noun
• abjurer
  noun
• abjuratory
  adjective
• nonabjuratory
  adjective
• unabjuratory
  adjective
• unabjured
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• abjuring
  present
• abjured
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• abjure
  simple
• abjures
  simple
• have abjured
  perfect
• has abjured
  perfect
• am abjuring
  progressive
• are abjuring
  progressive
• is abjuring
  progressive
• have been abjuring
  perfect progressive
• has been abjuring
  perfect progressive

Past

• abjured
  simple
• had abjured
  perfect
• was abjuring
  progressive
• were abjuring
  progressive
• had been abjuring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will abjure
  simple
• will have abjured
  perfect
• will be abjuring
  progressive
• will have been abjuring
  perfect progressive

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

abjure abjures abjured abjuring

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

Shun these places, abjure the philosophies that extol them.

From New York Times ● Feb. 4, 2017

Gottlieb tells the story of how James Boswell, the biographer of Samuel Johnson, visited Hume on his deathbed, hoping to find that at the last minute the philosopher would abjure his doubts and embrace Christianity.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 29, 2016

Palecz came and heard his confession, and then urged him to abjure, saying that he ought not to mind the humiliation.

From A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume II by Henry Charles Lea

India abjures formal alliances, which it sees as constraints on its independence.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026

Perhaps what ultimately tips “Skeleton Crew” in the other direction is the way it abjures cynicism in favor of connection.

From New York Times ● Jan. 26, 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

But Mr. Chinn, not contented with abstinence from animal food, goes nearly the full length of Dr. Schlemmer and his sect, and abjures cookery.

From Vegetable Diet: As Sanctioned by Medical Men, and by Experience in All Ages Including a System of Vegetable Cookery by William A. (William Andrus) Alcott

With great subversiveness, Portis consistently abjured America’s postwar fetishes for progress, social mobility and affluence.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 13, 2023

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 was shooting on 35 mm rather than in large formats; he disdained the tripod, abjured conspicuous lighting.

From New York Times ● Sep. 8, 2022

He abjured the hunt for home runs, but his on-base percentage was high.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2021

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 have no logical or moral explanation for my abjuring of e-readers.

From Slate ● Jun. 17, 2015

This would indeed be keeping to the letter of her father's will, and abjuring its meaning.

From Sir Tom by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant