Rescission

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ɹɪˈsɪʃən/

Definitions

1. The termination of a contract that results in both parties being returned to their original positions
2. The official cancellation of an agreement, making it as if it never existed
3. The act of voiding a contract and returning the involved parties to their prior conditions as though the agreement had not been made

Etymology: The verb behind "rescission" is Latin "rescindere," built from "re-" meaning "back" and "scindere," meaning "to cut." So at its root, to rescind something is to cut it back, undoing a thing by severing it from what it was attached to. The Latin noun "rescissio" carried that same sense of cutting off or annulling. English took the word in the mid-seventeenth century, with the first recorded use in 1651, drawing on that later Latin noun. The physical image of cutting has been replaced by a legal one: a rescission cancels an agreement entirely, so that the parties are returned to where they stood before signing, as though the contract had never existed. The same Latin verb gave English "rescind," and the "scind" element also appears in words like "scissors" and "schism," which share the idea of splitting apart. Yet "rescission" keeps the cutting image most clearly in its own legal sense of unpicking a bargain.

Synonyms: repeal, revocation, annulment, cancellation, voiding

Antonyms: enforcement, confirmation, validation, ratification, approval