abrogate

verb

ab·​ro·​gate ˈa-brə-ˌgāt 

abrogated; abrogating

transitive verb

1

formal : to abolish by authoritative action : annul

abrogate a treaty

2

formal : to treat as nonexistent : to fail to do what is required by (something, such as a responsibility)

The company's directors are accused of abrogating their responsibilities.

3

formal : to suppress or prevent (a biological function or process and especially an immune response)

Continued progress in measurement and characterization of antibodies and strategies to abrogate antibody production both prior to and following heart transplant have been encouraging.

—Peter M Eckman

abrogation

ˌa-brə-ˈgā-shən 

noun

Did you know?

If you can't simply wish something out of existence, the next best thing might be to "propose it away." That's more or less what abrogate lets you do—etymologically speaking, at least. Abrogate comes from the Latin root rogāre, which means "to propose a law," and ab-, meaning "from" or "away." Proposals aside, there’s no abrogating our responsibility to report that rogāre is the root of a number of English words, including prerogative, derogatory, arrogant, surrogate, and interrogate.

Did you know?

Abrogate vs. Arrogate

Abrogate and arrogate may easily be confused because they look and sound alike and are infrequently used and therefore unfamiliar. Despite their apparent similarities, these two words have markedly different meanings and do not share an origin. Abrogate (“ to abolish by authoritative action”) comes from the Latin abrogāre, meaning “to repeal (a law).” Arrogate (“to claim or seize without justification”) shares its etymology with arrogant; both may be traced to the Latin verb arrogāre, meaning “to appropriate to oneself.”

Did you know?

Should you abdicate, abrogate, abjure, or just resign?

Several words may be confused with abdicate through either a similarity of sound or of meaning. Among these are abrogate, abjure, and resign. All of these words have multiple meanings that are quite distinct from one another, yet each also has a degree of semantic overlap that renders them nearly synonymous with at least one of the others.

Abdicate is most often used to describe a head of state or member of a royal family voluntarily renouncing a position. It may also refer to the act of failing to fulfill a duty a responsibility. It shares this second meaning with abrogate (although the “failing to fulfill one’s duty” sense of this word is more common in the United Kingdom than in the United States). The senses of abrogate most commonly found are “to annul” or “to do away with.”

Abjure may be used to mean “to abstain from” or “to give up,” but often is used with the meaning of “to disclaim formally or renounce upon oath” (it comes from the Latin jurare, meaning “to swear”).

And finally, resign is often used with the meaning of “to give up one’s office or position.”

Despite the similarities among these words, they tend to be used in fairly specific settings. You would not typically tell your employer that you are abdicating your position in order to look for a better job; you would say that you are resigning. And when the king of a country renounces his claim on the throne to marry his one true love, he would be said to abdicate, rather than resign, his position.

Synonyms

• abate
• abolish
• annul
• avoid
• cancel
• disannul
• dissolve
• invalidate
• negate
• null
• nullify
• quash
• repeal
• rescind
• roll back
• strike down
• vacate
• void

Choose the Right Synonym for abrogate

nullify, negate, annul, abrogate, invalidate mean to deprive of effective or continued existence.

nullify implies counteracting completely the force, effectiveness, or value of something.

a penalty nullified the touchdown

negate implies the destruction or canceling out of each of two things by the other.

the arguments negate each other

annul suggests making ineffective or nonexistent often by legal or official action.

the treaty annuls all previous agreements

abrogate is like annul but more definitely implies a legal or official act.

a law to abrogate trading privileges

invalidate implies making something powerless or unacceptable by declaration of its logical or moral or legal unsoundness.

the court invalidated the statute

Examples of abrogate in a Sentence

If UAL continues to bleed red ink, some analysts say bankruptcy—which would allow it to abrogate its union contracts—may be its only hope. —Business Week, 12 Nov. 2001

We may not always like what we hear but we are always the poorer if we close down dialogue; if we abrogate free speech, and the open exchange of ideas. —Nikki Giovanni, Sacred Cows … and Other Edibles, 1988

For their part, some of the pipeline companies saddled with these contracts for high-priced, deregulated gas have declared that they will simply abrogate them … —Barry Commoner, New Yorker, 2 May 1983

The company's directors are accused of abrogating their responsibilities.

the U.S. Congress can abrogate old treaties that are unfair to Native Americans

Recent Examples on the Web

If a Chinese group supplies fentanyl at home, its members face severe sanctions—including death—in a criminal justice system that frequently abrogates international norms and values. —Raja Krishnamoorthi, Foreign Affairs, 12 Dec. 2024

Martin: Which can be abrogated if the people who run that department so choose. —Obed Manuel, NPR, 3 Dec. 2024

Fine, but a mandate does not abrogate the need to let the process work. — Mark McDonald, Chicago Celebration by other nations Listen. —Chicago Tribune, 22 Nov. 2024

In the face of intense opposition, the government fell the following February and soon the agreement was abrogated. —Ben Wedeman, CNN, 29 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin abrogātus, past participle of abrogāre, "to repeal (a law), repudiate, cancel," from ab- ab- + rogāre "to ask, ask an assembly for approval of" — more at rogation

First Known Use

circa 1520, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

abrogate

verb

ab·​ro·​gate ˈab-rə-ˌgāt 

abrogated; abrogating

formal

: to do away with or cancel by authority

abrogate a law

abrogation

ˌab-rə-ˈgā-shən 

noun

Legal Definition

abrogate

transitive verb

ab·​ro·​gate ˈa-brə-ˌgāt 

abrogated; abrogating

: to abolish by authoritative, official, or formal action : annul, repeal

a recent addition to [section] 51B abrogates statutory and common-law privileges

—J. S. J. Elder and A. G. Rodgers

abrogation

ˌa-brə-ˈgā-shən 

noun

Etymology

Latin abrogare, from ab- off + rogare ask, ask for approval of (a law)