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.
When an offer or law is rescinded, it doesn’t just stop; it’s treated as though it shouldn’t count anymore. That’s why a rescinded job offer can leave someone in a worse spot than if they’d never been chosen at all.
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