defeasance
/dɪˈfiːzəns/noun, verb
defeasance is a noun meaning “The rendering void of a contract or deed; an annulment or abrogation” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled D-E-F-E-A-S-A-N-C-E and has 3 syllables, and it appears about once in every 56 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of defeasance is defeasances.
What does defeasance mean?
noun
- 1
archaicDestruction, defeat, overthrow.
- 2
USThe rendering void of a contract or deed; an annulment or abrogation.
verb
- 1
USTo void; to annul.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce defeasance?
- UK /dɪˈfiːzəns/
Defeasance has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of defeasance
- defeasances plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- defeasaunce
- defeasancing participle, present
- defeasanced participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is defeasance?
Defeasance appears about once in every 56 million words in written English, the 234,209th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Where does defeasance come from?
From Anglo-Norman defeasaunce.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).