Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To refuse to acknowledge or accept as one's own; repudiate.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To refuse to acknowledge as belonging or pertaining to one's self; deny the ownership of or responsibility for; not to own or acknowledge; repudiate.
- To deny; not to allow; refuse to admit.
- Specifically, in the Society of Friends, to remove from membership; dismiss.
- Synonyms To disavow, disclaim, disallow, renounce.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To refuse to own or acknowledge as belonging to one's self; to disavow or deny, as connected with one's self personally
- transitive verb To refuse to acknowledge or allow; to deny.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To refuse to own or to refuse to acknowledge one’s own.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb cast off
- verb prevent deliberately (as by making a will) from inheriting
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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Clinton's group of supporters are a people who find it easier to "disown" their own family members if they are upset with them.
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I actually think Obama's hesitation to immediately "disown" his former pastor shows backbone and loyalty.
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It's a little late for Obama to express such outrage, especially since Wright isn't saying anything new, and especially after Obama told us all that he cannot "disown" Wright.
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So, it's no wonder these white voters can say they'll "disown" their own party if Obama is the nominee.
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I believe that people tend to "disown" their ailments.
Health Insurance Puzzle, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
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Just to be clear, there is a reason that all human beings are capable of psychological projection, which is the emotional technique of attributing one's own unacceptable feelings to someone else in order to 'disown' those feelings.
Archive 2009-05-01 Dr. Sanity 2009
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Hence, where Mr. Obama is concerned, his refusal to "disown" Reverend Wright based on his ludicrous claim that he had not been "present" for any of such sermons makes this an issue of honesty, not race, of political expediency not moral courage.
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Playing the Race Card and Understanding Who Stacked the Deck yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = 'Playing the Race Card and Understanding Who Stacked the Deck'; yahooBuzzArticleSummary = 'Article: When Barack Obama gave his speech "A More Perfect Union", the public was treated to something different and almost hypnotic; a politician who didn\'t duck the issue, "disown" his pastor for remarks that shocked many Americans.
Playing the Race Card and Understanding Who Stacked the Deck 2008
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I couldn't "disown" Wright without disowning half my family, most of my friends, 90% of my acquaintences and almost all public figures who have ever spoken with their conscious or unconscious fears and prejudices and reactions giving voice to painful personal perspectives.
Obama: Pleeze Don't Throw Me In the Briar Patch... Steven Barnes 2008
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He said that he could no more "disown" his pastor than he could disown "my white grandmother -- a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me."
Carol Felsenthal: Obama Should Celebrate the Women Who Raised Him 2008
bilby commented on the word disown
The transports move stealthily to sea—
The sea so prone to take strange freightage eagerly—
But this sad freightage even the sea disowns
And lifts its storms and frowns in darker mood
And never was a cargo more adrift …
There are no ports, no country’s flag, no waiting hands
In any land on earth for it.
Nor any home to take it in.
And all the prisons are too proud.
- Kathryn White Ryan, 'Deported'.
September 22, 2009