renunciation

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act or an instance of renouncing.
• noun A declaration in which something is renounced.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of renouncing.
• noun In law, the legal act by which a person abandons a right acquired, but without transferring it to another: applied particularly in reference to an executor or trustee who has been nominated in a will, or other instrument creating a trust, but who, having an option to accept it, declines to do so, and in order to avoid any liability expressly renounces the office. In Scots law the term is also used in reference to an heir who is entitled, if he chooses. to succeed to heritable property, but, from the extent of the encumbrances, prefers to refuse it.
• noun In liturgics, that part of the baptismal service in which the candidate, either in person or by his sureties, renounces the world, the flesh, and the devil.
• noun Synonyms Abandonment, relinquishment, surrender. See renounce.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of renouncing.
• noun (Law) Formal declination to take out letters of administration, or to assume an office, privilege, or right.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun the act of rejecting or renouncing something as invalid
• noun the resignation of an ecclesiastical office

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the act of renouncing; sacrificing or giving up or surrendering (a possession or right or title or privilege etc.)
• noun an act (spoken or written) declaring that something is surrendered or disowned
• noun rejecting or disowning or disclaiming as invalid
• noun the state of having rejected your religious beliefs or your political party or a cause (often in favor of opposing beliefs or causes)