abnegation

plural abnegations

1. countableuncountableA denial; a renunciation; denial of desire or self-interest.First known use First attested around 1350 to 1470.

   With abnegation of God, of his honor, and of religion, they may retain the friendship of the court.

   1558, John Knox, Letter to the Queen Dowager

   2 more examples

   Tony's face expressed relief, and Nettie sat silent for a moment until the vicar said “It was a generous impulse, but it may have been a momentary one, while in the case of monk and crusader there must have been a sustaining purpose, and possibly a great abnegation, a leaving of lands and possessions.”

   1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 20, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC

   We're repeatedly told how Chilean women were "trained since early childhood for a life of virtue, faith and abnegation," how "their fate was a marriage of convenience and motherhood.

   1999 November 2, Michiko Kakutani, “Books of The Times: A Single Girl Takes On the California Frontier”, in The New York Times (E section), New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 7

   Synonyms: repudiation, self-denial, denial, renunciation, declination, denial, turndown, disapproval