disavow
verb
Dan Chu
Did you know?
When is a vow not a vow? When it has been disavowed, for one. Let’s say you make a solemn pledge to eat green vegetables every day of the week and twice on Sundays. If a few months down the cruciferous road you decide such a diet is for the rabbits, you might disavow (that is, repudiate or deny responsibility for) your earlier vow. Or perhaps you stick to it, going so far as to eat nothing but brassicas 24/7. Well, in that case, your local chapter of the Carnivore’s Club might illustrate another meaning of disavow by disavowing you (refusing to acknowledge or accept you) as a member any longer. Now when is a vow not avow? You might be surprised to learn that vow and avow/disavow are not related. Though all three words came to English from Latin via Anglo-French, they have distinct roots: vow comes from the Latin verb vovēre, meaning “to vow,” while avow and disavow trace back to the verb advocare, meaning “to summon.” We stand by it: there’s no denying that disavow has history.
Examples of disavow in a Sentence
Chris Willman, Variety, 30 May 2025
The university paid back taxes, lost its exemption, and continued its noxious policy against students interracially dating and marrying until the school’s leadership finally came to its senses and publicly disavowed the policy in 2000.
—Marie Sapirie, Forbes.com, 12 May 2025
Another audience member suggested to put a bumper sticker on the car that would disavow Musk while still keeping the Tesla.
—Kirsten Chuba, HollywoodReporter, 9 May 2025
Even though one patient wanted the treatment, the organization disavowed it, making the group one of the last of its kind to do so.
—Kayana Szymczak For The New York Times, New York Times, 13 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for disavow
Cite this Entry
“Disavow.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disavow. Accessed 6 Jun. 2025.
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disavow
verb
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