Unstate

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Withdrawing or taking back a claim, declaration, or assertion that was previously made openly
2. To retract a statement or declaration so that it is no longer put forward as valid
3. Revoking something that has already been expressed, leaving it unsaid or no longer asserted

Etymology: "Unstate" is a straightforward formation: the prefix "un-", meaning "not" or "reversal of," attached to "state." Its source gives two parallel routes, one from "state" as a noun and one from "state" as a verb, which means the word could have been built from either part of speech, and the verb "state" traces back through Latin "status," meaning a condition or standing, the same root that gave English "status" itself. The prefix does the real work here. English has long attached "un-" to nouns and verbs to form words meaning the undoing or negation of the base, so "unstate" reads as the reverse of stating or, in the noun sense, of a state or condition. Because the formation is transparent, the word needs little more explanation than its parts.