Word of the Day for Saturday May 21, 2005 abnegate \AB-nih-gayt\, transitive verb: 1. To refuse or deny oneself; to reject; to renounce. 2. To give up (rights, claims, etc.); to surrender; to relinquish. "An exaggerated veneration for an exceptional individual" will allow worshippers "to abnegate responsibility, looking to the great man for salvation or for fulfilment" that we should work out for ourselves. --Christina Hardyment, "The intoxicating allure of great men," review of [1]Heroes: Saviors, Traitors, and Supermen, by Lucy Hughes-Hallett, [2]Independent, October 19, 2004 Adrift and divided, lacking intelligent leadership from the White House, the members of Congress have chosen to abnegate their constitutional responsibility in the hope that the blunt, crude mechanism of Gramm-Rudman will compensate for the failure of political will. --Evan Thomas, "'Look, Ma! No hands!'" [3]Time, December 23, 1985 Feed no more blossoms to the wind, abnegate the constellations, negate the sea and what is left of your world? What is left then? --Alessandra Lynch, "Excommunication," [4]American Poetry Review, July/August 2003 _________________________________________________________ Abnegate is a back-formation from abnegation, from Late Latin abnegatio, abnegation-, from Latin abnegare, "to refuse; to refute," from ab-, "away" + negare, "to deny." References 1. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400043999/ref=nosim/lexico 2. http://www.independent.co.uk/ 3. http://www.time.com/ 4. http://www.aprweb.org/ Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=9&q=abnegate