repudiate

Etymology

From Latin repudiātus, from repudiō (“I cast off, reject”), from repudium (“divorce”), 1540s.

verb

1. (transitive) To reject the truth or validity of; to deny.
2. (transitive) To refuse to have anything to do with; to disown.
   I disagreed completely—and still do—with President Nixon's initiative to "normalize" relations with the People's Republic of China. The American people—against the will of the majority, if the polls are correct—have been forced to go along with the Carter administration's decision to repudiate our mutual defense treaty with the free Chinese regime on Taiwan, and to give Peking the diplomatic and economic muscle to seriously impair the security and prosperity of the seventeen million people on the island. This is a strange way to reward a loyal ally whose hardworking and creative citizens have made their country a model success story for the capitalistic free-enterprise system. 1980, Spiro Agnew, Go Quietly . . . Or Else, New York: William Morrow and Company, page 34
3. (transitive) To refuse to pay or honor (a debt).
4. (intransitive) To be repudiated.