ENGLISH
REFERENCE

denounce

v.
C1 Advanced Oxford US //dɪˈnaʊns// UK //dɪnˈaʊns// de·nounce Archaic

v. to publicly state that someone or something is bad, wrong, or evil. You use this when a leader or a group wants to show they strongly disagree with an action.

v. to publicly declare to be wrong or evil; to inform against someone. Transitive — requires a direct object representing the person, group, or ideology being condemned.


SIMPLE

The government moved to denounce the violent attacks.

CONTEXTUAL

Human rights groups were quick to denounce the new law as a violation of basic freedoms.

COMPLEX

While some advisors suggested a quiet diplomatic approach, the president chose to formally denounce the treaty violation before the international assembly to signal a clear shift in policy.

Synonyms
Origin

From Old French denuncier, from Latin dēnūntiō (“to announce, to denounce, to threaten”), from de + nūntiō (“to announce, to report, to denounce”), from nūntius (“messenger, message”). Doublet of denunciate.

Usage

The verb is transitive and takes a direct object; often followed by 'as' to specify the nature of the criticism.

Pitfall

they denounced about the decisionthey denounced the decisionDenounce is a transitive verb and does not take the preposition 'about'.

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