Literary notes about abnegate (AI summary)
In literature, abnegate is often used to convey the act of renouncing or rejecting an inherent quality, duty, or worldly possession. Authors employ the term to illustrate a deliberate sacrifice—whether it is the abandonment of natural power without pretense [1] or the graceful renunciation of self in pursuit of higher, god-like ideals [2, 3]. It is also invoked to highlight moments when individuals cast off societal or inherited responsibilities, thereby sacrificing personal agency [4, 5]. Moreover, abnegate occasionally appears in more nuanced contexts, such as in discussions of obedience and free will [6] or even in the playful realm of card playing [7], emphasizing its versatility in capturing the essence of self-denial.
- In those days the strong made no pretence to protect the weak, or to abnegate their natural power.
— from Hodge and His Masters by Richard Jefferies - The most God-like man is the one who can abnegate without feeling the sacrifice.
— from Where Art Begins by Hume Nisbet - Royce, World and Individual, 2:248, 249— “ Assert the spiritual man; abnegate the natural man.
— from Systematic Theology (Volume 1 of 3) by Augustus Hopkins Strong - He could not abnegate his responsibility and cast it upon others.
— from The Trial and Death of Jesus Christ: A Devotional History of Our Lord's Passion by James Stalker - Those sons who blushed for their fathers set themselves to abnegate their racial conscience: and they succeeded only too well.
— from Jean-Christophe in Paris: The Market-Place, Antoinette, the House by Romain Rolland - Blindly to obey their commands would be to abnegate free agency and self-responsibility."
— from Fairy FingersA Novel by Anna Cora Ogden Mowatt Ritchie - Renounce , v. To disown, to abnegate; a term in card playing.
— from The Field Book: or, Sports and pastimes of the United Kingdom compiled from the best authorities, ancient and modern by W. H. (William Hamilton) Maxwell
