Rescind and the lesser-known words exscind and prescind all come from the Latin verb scindere, which means "to cut" or "to split." Rescind was adapted from its Latin predecessor rescindere in the 16th century, and prescind (from praescindere) and exscind (from exscindere) followed in the next century. Exscind means "to cut off" or "to excise," and prescind means "to withdraw one's attention," but of the three borrowings, only rescind established itself as a common English term. Today, rescind is most often heard in contexts having to do with someone rescinding a contract or an offer, or with a legislative body rescinding a law.
The enemies these efforts made for him concocted charges of disloyalty, and following a hearing before the Atomic Energy Commission in 1954, Oppenheimer's security clearance was rescinded.—Kai Bird et al., Smithsonian, Aug. 2005But Maria convinced Leverich that she had the authority to rescind the executor's decision to appoint him as biographer.—John Lahr, New Yorker, 19 Dec. 1994The Navy barred its personnel from his church, but he challenged the decree in federal court as a constitutional violation of freedom of religion. Eventually, the Navy rescinded its ban.—Randall Samborn, National Law Journal, 14 Jan. 1991
The navy rescinded its ban on women sailors.
The company later rescinded its offer.
Recent Examples on the WebThough the Golden Raspberries are usually in good fun, the event has come under fire in recent years for punching below its weight, like nominating an 11-year-old last year, only to rescind her nomination.—Lester Fabian Brathwaite, EW.com, 9 Mar. 2024 Today, corporate America’s knee-jerk reaction of tapping seemingly anyone and everyone to become a diversity leader has quickly evolved to a significant pruning of the role, with companies like Zoom laying off entire diversity teams, rescinding budgets, and freezing hiring within the function.—Ruth Umoh, Fortune, 6 Mar. 2024 In 2011 as the airport maintenance crew were bargaining for their first contract, the Airport Authority rescinded their rights and disbanded the union, said Osborne, who has represented the operating engineers for decades.—Binghui Huang, The Indianapolis Star, 4 Mar. 2024 Border encounters have risen during the Biden administration as pandemic restrictions were rescinded.—Melissa Brown, USA TODAY, 4 Mar. 2024 And so rescinding about half of the enforcement funding is going to cost you about half of these aggregate revenue gains.—Robert Goulder, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024 Withdrawing an endorsement requires a vote by the union’s 250-member House, which has the authority to rescind the endorsement.—Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times, 23 Feb. 2024 Take last December, for example, when Holt sought to rescind the district’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion statement.—Jenavieve Hatch, Sacramento Bee, 15 Feb. 2024 The House bill to fund the Transportation Department, for instance, includes a 64% cut to Amtrak and rescinds $25 billion from the IRS.—Jacob Bogage The Washington Post, arkansasonline.com, 12 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rescind.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French rescinder "to reduce, cut, cancel, break (a contract)," borrowed from Latin rescindere "to remove or lay bare by hewing and cutting, cut or tear open, cancel, annul," from re-re- + scindere "to split, cleave, separate" — more at shed entry 1
: to abrogate (a contract or transaction) by mutual agreement, judicial decree, or unilateral declaration because of fraud, mistake, duress, misrepresentation, illegality, a breach, or another sufficient ground with both parties restored to their positions before the contract was made compare cancel, terminate
3
: to make void by the same or by a superior authority
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