abjure
v.v. to officially give up a belief, a habit, or a right. It is a very formal word often used in legal or religious contexts.
v. to formally renounce or reject a belief, practice, or right. Often used in legal or ecclesiastical contexts to describe a public and binding statement of abandonment.
The politician abjured his previous views on the issue.
The defendant was forced to abjure his previous testimony under oath during the trial.
In the final chapter of his memoir, the philosopher abjured the materialism of his youth, embracing a more spiritual perspective on the nature of existence.
From Late Middle English abjuren (“to give up (something); to recant or renounce (something) under oath”), from Anglo-Norman abjurer, Middle French abiurer, abjurer, and Old French abjurer (“to reject or renounce (something) on oath”) (modern French abjurer), and from their etymon Latin abiūrāre, the present active infinitive of abiūrō (“to deny on oath, recant, renounce, repudiate, abjure”), from ab- (prefix meaning ‘away from, from’) + iūro (“to take an oath, swear, vow”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yew- (“(adjective) right; straight; upright; (noun) justice; law; right”).