Rescinded

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Formally took back or annulled a previously made decision, law, or agreement
2. Officially cancelled or reversed a prior ruling or contract, making it no longer valid
3. Withdrew authorization or permission that had been granted earlier, nullifying its effect

Etymology: "Rescind" comes from Latin "rescindere," built from "re-" meaning "back" and "scindere," meaning "to cut." Its original sense was literal: to cut back or cut away, as with a branch or a piece of cloth. The idea of cutting something away gradually shifted into cutting away a decision, law, or agreement, so that to rescind something came to mean to cut its effect off and make it void. The past form "rescinded" is simply the regular past tense and past participle of "rescind," so it carries the same cutting-back idea. When a council rescinds a vote or a company rescinds an offer, it is figuratively trimming the legal or practical life out of an earlier act, as if removing a limb that had grown from it.

Synonyms: revoked, canceled, annulled, repealed, abrogated

Antonyms: enforced, established, confirmed, validated, ratified