Abnegates

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To refuse or reject something, particularly a belief or desire, often prioritizing a greater principle or ideal, while relinquishing control over personal passions or attachments
2. To deny one's desires or beliefs, prioritizing a higher moral or ethical standard, which involves relinquishing emotional ties or control over personal attachments
3. To actively give up or refuse to accept a belief, desire, or claim, often for moral or personal reasons

Etymology: "Abnegate" first appears in English in 1657, and it is one of those words that may have been built in English from Latin pieces rather than borrowed whole. Its most likely source is the Latin "abnegare," meaning "to refuse" or "to reject," assembled from "ab," "away from," and "negare," "to deny." The sense of stepping away from a claim or a desire is already present in those parts, which is why the word reads so transparently today. There is a second possibility worth knowing about. Scholars also suggest that "abnegate" may be a back-formation from "abnegation," the noun, which would mean English speakers worked backward from the noun to invent a verb. Because the two candidates lead to the same meaning, the question of which came first matters less to the word's sense than it does to its grammar.

Synonyms: rejects, renounces, renunciates

Antonyms: accepts, embraces, adopts