disowning

verb

present participle of disown
1
as in denying
to declare not to be true he steadfastly disowned that he was having an affair

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in refusing
to refuse to acknowledge as one's own or as one's responsibility the dictatorial father angrily disowned his rebellious son

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of disowning Hong Kong's stablecoin licensing further illustrates this, approving only HKD tokens while publicly disowning any CNH stablecoin claims. — Zennon Kapron, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026 The platforms that helped usher in the generative AI boom are now trying to clean up the mess without disowning the technology behind it. — Angela Yang, NBC news, 8 Aug. 2026 In September 2025, it was revealed that Ferguson sent an email to Epstein apologizing for publicly disowning him in a March 2011 interview with the Evening Standard. — Stephanie Petit, PEOPLE, 3 Feb. 2026 The pastor approaches the line without fully disenchanting; a magician drawing attention to the trick without disowning its power. — Sam Kestenbaum, Vulture, 2 Jan. 2026 Emails published on the Mail on Sunday revealed Ferguson apologized to Epstein weeks after publicly disowning him, back in 2011. — Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 30 Nov. 2025 Extended family members of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller are disowning him, according to his cousin. — Jordan King, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Oct. 2025 Maximum Overdrive, the only movie that King directed, is eligible… but King himself joined the chorus of harsh critics, disowning it and never again returning to the director’s chair . — James Grebey, Time, 12 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for disowning
  1. denying
  2. refusing
  3. rejecting
  4. refuting
Verb
  • Before the documentary was released, Brand posted a video online denying the allegations.
    — News Editor, CBS News, 28 Oct. 2026
  • The criminal complaint accuses them of lying to lawmakers in 2023 by denying contemporaneous knowledge of the Biden laptop or participating in internal FBI conversations about it.
    — Eric Tucker, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of denying
Verb
  • They were called in when some individuals were refusing to leave and laying down, blocking an exit.
    — Jackson Thompson OutKick, FOXNews.com, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Their lawyers spoke about the police refusing to reveal their location.
    — Asim Ali, Time, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of refusing
Verb
  • Unlike municipalities Uthmeier threatened after rejecting the agreements, these local governments have not formally accepted or rejected a 287(g) collaboration.
    — Syra Ortiz Blanes, Miami Herald, 27 Oct. 2026
  • And filmmakers building outside Hollywood’s traditional gates aren’t rejecting the business.
    — Chaseedaw Giles, IndieWire, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of rejecting
Verb
  • OpenAI’s proof provides an algorithm to solve 3-SAT that is just a tiny bit faster than exponential time, refuting ETH.
    — Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 27 Oct. 2026
  • While refuting any suggestion of police repression, Lecornu condemned violence on the margins of protests, which were mostly peaceful Tuesday, despite the dramatic scenes that dominated coverage.
    — Joseph Ataman, CNN Money, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of refuting

Browse Nearby Words

disowned
disowning
disownment
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Cite this Entry

“Disowning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disowning. Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.

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