Disentitle

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To take away or remove someone's rights or privileges, often in a legal context
2. To nullify a person's claim or entitlement to something, making them ineligible or disqualified
3. To revoke a granted status or benefit, resulting in decreased access to rights or benefits

Etymology: "Disentitle" is a simple formation: the prefix "dis-" (meaning "apart" or "reversing" an action) attached to "entitle." The prefix came into English through Middle English from Latin, where it was "dis-", itself a form of an older Latin prefix with the sense "in two, apart," which had passed through Old French as well. "Entitle" is the older verb meaning to give a person a title, right, or claim to something, so "disentitle" reverses that grant. The combination reads as a reversal of entitlement, so that someone who was granted a benefit or status loses it and with it the access that came with it. Because it is built transparently from two familiar parts, the meaning follows directly from them and the word has little in the way of a surprising history of its own.

Synonyms: deprive, dispossess, divest, strip, remove

Antonyms: entitle, authorize, allow, give, grant