rescission: meaning, definition, pronunciation and examples
C2Formal, Legal, Business, Academic
Quick answer
What does “rescission” mean?
The formal act of cancelling or terminating a contract, law, or agreement, making it void from the beginning.
Audio
Pronunciation
Definition
Meaning and Definition
The formal act of cancelling or terminating a contract, law, or agreement, making it void from the beginning.
A judicial remedy that restores the parties to the positions they were in before a contract was made; the undoing or reversal of something.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
No major spelling or usage differences. The term is equally formal and legalistic in both varieties.
Connotations
Primarily legal and financial, carrying connotations of formal, often court-sanctioned, cancellation.
Frequency
Very low frequency in general discourse, used almost exclusively in legal, contractual, and regulatory contexts.
Grammar
How to Use “rescission” in a Sentence
rescission of + [noun (agreement, contract, treaty)]seek/obtain/grant + rescissionVocabulary
Collocations
Examples
Examples of “rescission” in a Sentence
verb
British English
- The company sought to rescind the contract.
- The court rescinded the unfair agreement.
American English
- The buyer acted to rescind the purchase agreement.
- The statute allows the agency to rescind the rule.
adverb
British English
- (No standard adverb form; 'rescindably' is not used.)
American English
- (No standard adverb form; 'rescindably' is not used.)
adjective
British English
- The rescissory action was filed promptly.
- (Note: 'rescissory' is highly technical and rare)
American English
- The judge granted a rescissory remedy.
- (Note: 'rescissory' is highly technical and rare)
Usage
Meaning in Context
Business
The board voted for the rescission of the merger agreement due to the other party's misrepresentation.
Academic
The study analysed the economic impact of the rescission of the antitrust exemption.
Everyday
Extremely rare. Might be simplified to 'They got the contract cancelled and everything reversed.'
Technical
The claimant was entitled to rescission of the contract for fraudulent inducement.
Vocabulary
Synonyms of “rescission”
Vocabulary
Antonyms of “rescission”
Watch out
Common Mistakes When Using “rescission”
- Misspelling as 'recission' (missing first 's').
- Confusing it with 'recession' (economic downturn).
- Using it casually for simple cancellation.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Termination ends a contract from that point forward. Rescission voids the contract ab initio (from the beginning), as if it never existed, and often requires returning any benefits received.
No, it is a formal, technical term used almost exclusively in legal, financial, and regulatory documents. It is very rare in everyday conversation.
The verb is 'to rescind'. 'Rescission' is the noun form describing the act or result of rescinding.
Extremely rarely. It might be used metaphorically in very formal writing (e.g., 'the rescission of a policy'), but its core domain is law and contracts.
The formal act of cancelling or terminating a contract, law, or agreement, making it void from the beginning.
Rescission is usually formal, legal, business, academic in register.
Rescission: in British English it is pronounced /rɪˈsɪʒ.ən/, and in American English it is pronounced /rɪˈsɪʒ.ən/. Tap the audio buttons above to hear it.
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “None specific; the term itself is a technical one.”
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Think: RE- (again) + SCISSION (cutting). Rescission is 'cutting again' or cutting something away, returning to the state before it existed.
Conceptual Metaphor
A LEGAL UNDO BUTTON / ERASING A SIGNATURE / REWINDING A DEAL.
Practice
Quiz
In which context is the term 'rescission' MOST appropriately used?