abnegation

[ ab-ni-gey-shuhn ]

noun

1. the act or an instance of abnegating, or denying oneself some rights, conveniences, etc.:

   It was a time of austerity and abnegation.

2. the act of relinquishing or giving up a right, possession, etc.:

   abnegation of parental responsibilities.

Word History and Origins

Origin of abnegation¹

First recorded in 1350–1400, for an earlier sense; from Late Latin abnegation-, stem of abnegatio “denial,” equivalent to Latin abnegāt(us), past participle of abnegāre “to deny” + -iō -ion ( def ); abnegate ( def )

Example Sentences

I tell my daughter about her bodily sovereignty, and Idaho responds by asserting its own control, demanding abnegation — annihilation, even — at the altar of the unborn.

From Seattle Times

Above all, it requires an abnegation of the self.

From Washington Post

That abnegation is an illness that has reached pandemic-level proportions under the panopticon of white-supremacist patriarchy, which seeds division among women through social pressure.

From Washington Post

The gospel of ‘disruptive innovation’ depends on the abnegation of history2.

From Nature

The activists, however, see the fence and the proposed culling as an abnegation of the park service’s duty to protect the iconic species, which once numbered in the hundreds of thousands across Central California.

From Los Angeles Times