Repeal

How to spell repeal

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce repeal

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does repeal mean?

1. verbTo officially revoke or annul a law, regulation, or act.
2. nounThe act of officially revoking or annulling a law or regulation.

Repeal in a sentence

• verb

  Campaigners spent years pressing parliament to repeal the outdated statute.

• noun

  The repeal of the licensing law took effect at the start of the year.

• verb

  The new government promised to repeal the controversial tax measure.

• noun

  Supporters celebrated the repeal of the restrictive trading rules.

Where does repeal come from?

Language of origin: French

Repeal entered English in the late 1300s from Anglo-Norman 'repeler', a variant of Old French 'rapeler', meaning 'to call back' or 'to recall'. That word was built from the prefix 're-', carrying the sense of 'back', combined with 'apeler', meaning 'to call' or 'to summon', which itself traces to the Latin 'appellare', 'to address' or 'to call upon'. The same Latin root gives English the everyday words 'appeal' and 'appellation', so repeal originally carried the idea of summoning a law back out of existence. From the start it was tied to formal and legal contexts, describing the act of revoking an enactment by calling it back. The 'peal' spelling preserves the old French 'apeler' ending rather than the Latin double 'p', which is why writers sometimes second-guess whether it should match 'appeal'.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• peal (from Old French apeler, to call); literally 'to call back'