Synonym Chooser

How is the word abjure different from other verbs like it?

Some common synonyms of abjure are forswear, recant, renounce, and retract. While all these words mean "to withdraw one's word or professed belief," abjure implies a firm and final rejecting or abandoning often made under oath.

abjured the errors of his former faith

When would forswear be a good substitute for abjure?

In some situations, the words forswear and abjure are roughly equivalent. However, forswear may add an implication of perjury or betrayal.

I cannot forswear my principles

When is recant a more appropriate choice than abjure?

The synonyms recant and abjure are sometimes interchangeable, but recant stresses the withdrawing or denying of something professed or taught.

if they recant they will be spared

When can renounce be used instead of abjure?

Although the words renounce and abjure have much in common, renounce may carry the meaning of disclaim or disown.

renounced abstract art and turned to portrait painting

When could retract be used to replace abjure?

The words retract and abjure can be used in similar contexts, but retract applies to the withdrawing of a promise, an offer, or an accusation.

the newspaper had to retract the story

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of abjure In the end, de Hales agreed to abjure the realm, which meant walking, barefoot, to the port of Chester, a hundred and thirty miles away, holding a wooden cross and wearing sackcloth, and taking a ship across the Irish Sea, never to return. Sam Knight, The New Yorker, 12 Mar. 2024 Elite progressive educational institutions were unlikely to experience a radical moral epiphany the moment the Supreme Court made its ruling, and abjure their discriminatory impulses and racial fixations. The Editors, National Review, 8 Aug. 2023 This scenario—the Russian nationalist who abjures the war—is Ukraine’s quickest path to some sort of victory. Foreign Affairs, 24 June 2023 But as a philosophical tradition, pragmatism makes no normative claims about what is worth doing and what is not, what is desirable and what is to be abjured. Mark Edmundson, Harper's Magazine, 12 Dec. 2022 See All Example Sentences for abjure
Recent Examples of Synonyms for abjure
Verb
  • In this telling, the blood of Christian martyrs facing lions rather than renouncing their faith eventually transformed the Roman empire.
    John Blake, CNN Money, 20 Apr. 2025
  • Eventually, in 2019, the Business Round Table realized that business based totally on the self-interest of short-term profits was untenable and officially renounced it.
    Steve Denning, Forbes.com, 20 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Houston threw numbers behind the ball for most of the game to avoid getting hit by the deadly counterattacks and transitions KC has been known for.
    Daniel Sperry, Kansas City Star, 20 Apr. 2025
  • Get to an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building and avoid windows.
    STAR-TELEGRAM WEATHER BOT, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 20 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Rather than a gradual strengthening of local capacity as a way of reimagining how the global development industry operates, the Trump administration’s proposals simply withdraw federal support.
    Alexander Puutio, Forbes.com, 25 Apr. 2025
  • But with so much uncertainty over both macroeconomic conditions and trade policies, many companies have been giving downbeat second-quarter forecasts and have been withdrawing or balking at revising their full-year projections.
    Lisa Kailai Han,Sean Conlon, CNBC, 24 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Vance piled pressure on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by calling on both sides to accept the American framework for peace, which includes agreeing to recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea, mostly freezing the frontlines of the conflict and foregoing future NATO membership.
    Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 23 Apr. 2025
  • Division of film rights, foregoing worldwide rights and selling territory by territory and lowering American doc budgets were also topics of conversation during the hour-long lunch.
    Addie Morfoot, Variety, 26 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • Crayola Clicks Retractable Tip Markers These best-selling markers feature a cone tip that allows for both fine lines and broad strokes, and they can be retracted with a simple click, so there’s no need to hunt down missing caps.
    Mia Huelsbeck, People.com, 29 Mar. 2025
  • The driver had a difficult time retracting the ramp and after several tries got it on the bus, but the bus would not start.
    Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 29 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • The immigration judge denied the asylum claim because the time limits to make such a claim had expired.
    Niall Stanage, The Hill, 17 Apr. 2025
  • On Thursday, April 3, the city denied that the music festival is happening there, according to a press release translated by Rolling Stone.
    Charna Flam, People.com, 17 Apr. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Podcast

Cite this Entry

“Abjure.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/abjure. Accessed 2 May. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on abjure

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!