online medical dictionary | definition of repudiate

1. To cast off; to disavow; to have nothing to do with; to renounce; to reject. "Servitude is to be repudiated with greater care." (Prynne)

2. To divorce, put away, or discard, as a wife, or a woman one has promised to marry. "His separation from Terentis, whom he repudiated not long afterward." (Bolingbroke)

3. To refuse to acknowledge or to pay; to disclaim; as, the State has repudiated its debts.

Origin: L. Repudiatus, p. P. Of repudiare to repudiate, reject, fr. Repudium separation, divorce; pref. Re- re- + pudere to be ashamed.

(01 Mar 1998)