Renounce
verbTo formally give up, reject, or declare an end to a claim, right, belief, or relationship.
How to spell renounce
8 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce renounce
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does renounce mean?
- verbTo formally give up, reject, or declare an end to a claim, right, belief, or relationship.
Renounce in a sentence
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She chose to renounce her claim to the family inheritance.
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He had to renounce his citizenship before taking the new passport.
Where does renounce come from?
Language of origin: Latin
The word traces to the Latin renuntiare, which combined re-, here carrying the sense of 'back' or 'reversal', with nuntiare, meaning 'to announce' or 'to report'. That verb in turn came from nuntius, a 'messenger' or the message itself, so the literal idea was to announce something back, that is, to formally declare that you withdraw from it. English borrowed the word in the 1300s through Old French renoncer, keeping the meaning of a public, deliberate giving up of a claim, a right, or a belief. The same nuntius root still echoes in relatives such as 'announce', 'pronounce', and 'denounce', which share the family ending that traps so many spellers. The spelling holds the French -ounce rather than the Latin -unce, which is exactly why writers must remember the 'ou' inside the final syllable.
How the word is built
- re- (back)
- nounce (from Latin nuntiare: to announce, declare)
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