Word of the Day

: December 9, 2020

rescind

verb rih-SIND

What It Means

1 : to take away : remove

2 a : take back, cancel

b : to abrogate (a contract) and restore the parties to the positions they would have occupied had there been no contract

3 : to make void by action of the enacting authority or a superior authority : repeal

rescind in Context

"As part of that Phase I work, the board rescinded an earlier agreement to buy the old bus station at 221 W. Fourth Ave. That $109,000 will be used instead to help pay for the infrastructure work." — Byron Tate, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 30, Oct. 2020

"After seeing the projections announced on television, Gore called Bush to concede the election. But by 3:17 a.m. Eastern, the Florida secretary of state's website showed Bush's lead shrinking to 565 votes. Gore called again to rescind his concession." — Brittny Mejia, The Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov. 2020

Did You Know?

Rescind and the lesser-known words exscind and prescind all come from the Latin verb scindere, which means "to cut" or "to split." Rescind was adapted from its Latin predecessor rescindere in the 16th century, and prescind (from praescindere) and exscind (from exscindere) followed in the next century. Exscind means "to cut off" or "to excise," and prescind means "to withdraw one's attention," but of the three borrowings, only rescind established itself as a common English term. Today, rescind is most often heard in contexts having to do with someone rescinding a contract or an offer, or with a legislative body rescinding a law.