EnglishLearner.com
  • Dictionary
  • List of exercises
  • Exercises by level
    • Beginner exercises
    • Intermediate exercises
    • Advanced exercises
  • Dictionary
  • List of exercises
  • Exercises by level+
    • Beginner exercises
    • Intermediate exercises
    • Advanced exercises

Meaning of renounce in English

Table of contents
  1. Pronunciation
  2. Verb
    1. Etymology
    2. Definitions
  1. Pronunciation

    /rəˈnaʊns/

    US accent Play buttonYour browser does not support the audio element.

    How to pronounce renounce in American English, in context ▾
    Use the controls below Controls button to browse different examples of pronunciation.

    UK accent Play buttonYour browser does not support the audio element.

    How to pronounce renounce in British English, in context ▾
    Use the controls below Controls button to browse different examples of pronunciation.
  1. Verb

    renounce

    Etymology

    late Middle English: from Old French renoncer, from Latin renuntiare‘protest against’, from re- (expressing reversal) + nuntiare‘announce’

    Definitions

    1. give up, such as power, as of monarchs and emperors, or duties and obligations

    Examples

    • « The King abdicated when he married a divorcee »

    Derived terms

    • abdication
    • abdicator
    • forgoing
    • forswearing
    • renouncement
    • renunciation
    • stepping down
  2. 2. leave (a job, post, post, or position) voluntarily

    Examples

    • « She vacated the position when she got pregnant »
    • « The chairman resigned when he was found to have misappropriated funds »

    Derived terms

    • resignation
  3. 3. turn away from

    Examples

    • « give up »
    • « I am foreswearing women forever »

    Derived terms

    • relinquishing
    • relinquishment
    • renouncement
    • renunciation
  4. 4. cast off or disown

    Examples

    • « She renounced her husband »
    • « The parents repudiated their son »

    Derived terms

    • renouncement
    • renunciation
    • repudiation

Famous quotes

  • « Alaska is what happens when Willy Wonka and the witch from Hansel and Gretel elope, buy a place together upstate, renounce their sweet teeth, and turn into health fanatics. »
    Sloane Crosley
  • « Experience is a revelation in the light of which we renounce our errors of youth for those of age. »
    Ambrose Bierce
  • « It was in our power to cause the Arab governments to renounce the policy of strength toward Israel by turning it into a demonstration of weakness. »
    Moshe Dayan
  • « The best people renounce all for one goal, the eternal fame of mortals but most people stuff themselves like cattle. »
    Heraclitus
  • « No one who has lived even for a fleeting moment for something other than life in its conventional sense and has experienced the exaltation that this feeling produces can then renounce his new freedom so easily. »
    Andre Breton

Browse dictionary

  • renormalize
  • renormalise
  • Renoir
  • Reno
  • renounce
  • renouncement
  • renovate
  • renovated
  • renovation
Copyright © EnglishLearner.com 1998-2021