Both Uses of
abnegate
in
Light in August
- They went on, in steady single file, the two backs in their rigid abnegation of all compromise more alike than actual blood could have made them.†
Chpt 7 *abnegation = renunciation (rejection) -- often self-denial of luxuries
- Perhaps he was aware of the abnegation in it: the imperious and fierce urgency that concealed an actual despair at frustrate and irrevocable years, which she appeared to attempt to compensate each night as if she believed that it would be the last night on earth by damning herself forever to the hell of her forefathers, by living not alone in sin but in filth.†
Chpt 12
Definition:
to renounce or reject
The exact meaning of abnegate can depend upon its context. For example:
- "to abnegate his responsibilities as a father" -- to reject or ignore a duty
- "to practice self-abnegation" -- to deny oneself (voluntarily give something up such as a luxury)
- "to abnegate her faith" -- to reject a belief
- "to abnegate her legal rights" -- to give up a claim, title, or position of power