REPEAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does repeal mean? 

• REPEAL (noun)
  The noun REPEAL has 1 sense:

1. the act of abrogating; an official or legal cancellation

  Familiarity information: REPEAL used as a noun is very rare.

• REPEAL (verb)
  The verb REPEAL has 1 sense:

1. cancel officially

  Familiarity information: REPEAL used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REPEAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of abrogating; an official or legal cancellation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

abrogation; annulment; repeal

Hypernyms ("repeal" is a kind of...):

cancellation (the act of cancelling; calling off some arrangement)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "repeal"):

derogation ((law) the partial taking away of the effectiveness of a law; a partial repeal or abolition of a law)

vacation (the act of making something legally void)

recall (the act of removing an official by petition)

revocation (the act (by someone having the authority) of annulling something previously done)

Derivation:

repeal (cancel officially)

• REPEAL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they repeal    ... he / she / it repeals   
Past simple: repealed   
Past participle: repealed   
-ing form: repealing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cancel officially

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

annul; countermand; lift; overturn; repeal; rescind; reverse; revoke; vacate

Context example:

vacate a death sentence

Hypernyms (to "repeal" is one way to...):

cancel; strike down (declare null and void; make ineffective)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "repeal"):

go back on; renege; renege on; renegue on (fail to fulfill a promise or obligation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

repeal (the act of abrogating; an official or legal cancellation)

 Context examples 

Without the consent of this illustrious body, no law can be enacted, repealed, or altered: and these nobles have likewise the decision of all our possessions, without appeal.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Peggotty then retired to her lodging, and Mr. Spenlow and I went into Court, where we had a divorce-suit coming on, under an ingenious little statute (repealed now, I believe, but in virtue of which I have seen several marriages annulled), of which the merits were these.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)