In the face of intense public scrutiny, the college's president is now trying to disavow [ˌdɪsəˈvaʊ] her previous statements about eliminating tenure.

disavow
verb [ˌdɪsəˈvaʊ]

Disavow is a formal word that is often used as a synonym for repudiate meaning “to deny responsibility for.” A closely related second meaning is “to refuse to acknowledge or accept.”

from Latin via Anglo-French, they have distinct roots: vow comes from the Latin verb vovēre, meaning “to vow,” while avow and disavow trace back to the verb advocare, meaning “to summon.”

English