To rescind is to officially cancel, withdraw, or take back a decision, order, or agreement. It makes the thing as if it no longer exists or never had effect.
From Latin *rescindere* meaning 'to cut off, abolish', from *re-* 'back' + *scindere* 'to cut or split'. The cutting image survives in the way laws or offers can be 'sliced away' from legal reality.
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