Pluto Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I was wondering, what would the relationship be between these two words, rescind and disown? It was just something I personally was curious about, and I have a basic idea of what each word means, but how do they differ? So while they both mean to take back an established "thing" (whether one refers to a statement made and another refers to a relationship I believe), is that really all there is to both? Can they be used interchangeably or one has a broader meaning, etc... The reason I'm asking this question is I'm kinda interested in the word "rescind," cuz it sounds soooo cool! From the context I originally heard it being used in, it was in a game where a hacker organization would "rescind" all knowledge of you as its member if you were caught twice hacking. Or something like that... Anyways thanks!! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeriousScholar Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 It was just something I personally was curious about, and I have a basic idea of what each word means, but how do they differ? So while they both mean to take back an established "thing" (whether one refers to a statement made and another refers to a relationship I believe), is that really all there is to both? Hi Pluto, You're intuition about the different meanings is correct. Rescind is usually used for statements, contracts, orders, etc., whereas disown is usually used for a relationship or connection with a person. I can't think of a situation when you could interchange them in a sentence. A rare situation might exist, but usually they have the different connotations mentioned above. Good luck with your writing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pluto Posted August 29, 2014 Author Share Posted August 29, 2014 Another word I thought about to take something back is revoke. I'm guessing that revoke only applies to something that was granted by an authority? Also I'm not a big language person, but I definitely like getting my opinion into words and being concise in doing that. Is there a dictionary online that goes into depth about definitions of words? I know dictionary.com often has usage notes to help prevent confusion but they didn't have anything on this for example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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