Disclaim

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /dɪsˈkleɪm/

Definitions

1. To reject any association with or responsibility for something, to renounce a claim to ownership, and to formally disavow a right or legal entitlement
2. To refuse to acknowledge an obligation or involvement in a matter, to disown a particular claim or right, and to formally reject an ownership assertion
3. To deny any connection to or accountability for something ; to formally renounce a legal entitlement or claim

Etymology: The verb "disclaim" is a fine example of a word whose core meaning has barely shifted in six centuries, yet whose parts reveal a surprising reversal. Its ancestor in Old French was "desclamer," built from "des-," a prefix that reverses or removes, and "clamer," meaning "to call out" or "to claim." Put together, the word literally meant to undo a claim, to call back what one had asserted. That is exactly what the modern sense does: it withdraws a claim of ownership or connection. The word reached English in Middle English as "disclaimen," arriving through Anglo-Norman "disclaimer," the legal French spoken in English courts after the Norman Conquest. Its early life was firmly legal, where a person would formally renounce a right or entitlement. The meaning of distancing oneself from an opinion or association developed later, which is why today we most often hear it in phrases like "I disclaim any responsibility."

Synonyms: renounce, disavow, reject

Antonyms: acknowledge, accept