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Rescind and the lesser-known words exscind and prescind all come from the Latin verb scindere, which means “to split, cleave, separate.” 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 the withdrawal of an offer, award, or privilege, or with invalidation of a law or policy.
Examples of rescind in a Sentence
Kai Bird et al., Smithsonian, Aug. 2005
But 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. 1994
The 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 Eventually, the Navy rescinded its ban.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The navy rescinded its ban on women sailors.
The company later rescinded its offer.
Ryan Morik, FOXNews.com, 16 Oct. 2025
After working through the weekend to rescind RIF notices that were sent out in error, those HR staff lost access to their work email accounts and work computers.
—Andrea Hsu, NPR, 15 Oct. 2025
Nagy did not specify in the court declaration which employees’ notices were rescinded.
—Molly Parks, The Washington Examiner, 15 Oct. 2025
According to recent reports, Trump may be reconsidering his decision to rescind Isaacman’s nomination to lead NASA, so a huge nuclear propulsion advocate may soon lead the world’s premier space agency.
—Big Think, 15 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rescind
Cite this Entry
“Rescind.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rescind. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
rescind
verb
Legal Definition
rescind
verb
Latin rescindere to cut loose, annul, from re- away, back + scindere to cut, split
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