Adjacent Words

Repeal definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

REPE'AL, v.t. [L. appello; ad and pello.]
1. To recall. [Obsolete as it respects persons.]
2. To recall, as a deed, will, law or statute; to revoke; to abrogate by an authoritative act, or by the same power that made or enacted; as, the legislature may repeal at one session, a law enacted at a preceding one.
REPE'AL, n.
1. Recall from exile. [Not in use.]
2. Revocation; abrogation; as the repeal of a statute.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the act of abrogating; an official or legal cancellation [syn: abrogation, repeal, annulment] v
1: cancel officially; "He revoked the ban on smoking"; "lift an embargo"; "vacate a death sentence" [syn: revoke, annul, lift, countermand, reverse, repeal, overturn, rescind, vacate]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb Etymology: Middle English repelen, from Anglo-French repeler, literally, to call back, from re- + apeler to appeal, call Date: 14th century 1. to rescind or annul by authoritative act; especially to revoke or abrogate by legislative enactment 2. abandon, renounce 3. obsolete to summon to return ; recall • repeal noun • repealable adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.tr. revoke, rescind, or annul (a law, act of parliament, etc.). --n. the act or an instance of repealing. Derivatives: repealable adj. Etymology: ME f. AF repeler, OF rapeler (as RE-, APPEAL)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Repeal Re*peal" (r?-p?l"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Repealed (-p?ld"); p. pr. & vb. n. Repealing.] [OF. repeler to call back, F. rappeler; pref. re- re- + OF. apeler, F. appeler, to call, L. appellare. See Appeal, and. cf. Repel.] 1. To recall; to summon again, as persons. [Obs.] The banished Bolingbroke repeals himself, And with uplifted arms is safe arrived. --Shak. 2. To recall, as a deed, will, law, or statute; to revoke; to rescind or abrogate by authority, as by act of the legislature; as, to repeal a law. 3. To suppress; to repel. [Obs.] Whence Adam soon repealed The doubts that in his heart arose. --Milton. Syn: To abolish; revoke; rescind; recall; annul; abrogate; cancel; reverse. See Abolish.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Repeal Re*peal", n. 1. Recall, as from exile. [Obs.] The tribunes are no soldiers; and their people Will be as rash in the repeal, as hasty To expel him thence. --Shak. 2. Revocation; abrogation; as, the repeal of a statute; the repeal of a law or a usage.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(repeals, repealing, repealed) If the government repeals a law, it officially ends it, so that it is no longer valid. The government has just repealed the law segregating public facilities. VERB: V n • Repeal is also a noun. Next year will be the 60th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. N-UNCOUNT: N of n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. Abrogate (a law), rescind, revoke, recall, reverse, annual, cancel, abolish, set aside, do away, make void. II. n. Abrogation, revocation, rescission, rescinding, annulment, abolition.

Moby Thesaurus

abolish, abolition, abrogate, abrogation, annihilate, annul, annulment, bring to naught, cancel, cancellation, countermand, counterorder, disannul, dismantle, do away with, invalidate, invalidation, lift, make void, negate, negative, nullification, nullify, override, overrule, recall, recant, renege, rescind, rescindment, rescission, retract, reversal, reverse, revocation, revoke, set aside, suspend, undo, vacate, void, voiding, waive, withdraw, write off