Meaning & use
devalidate
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Meanings
verbtransitiveformal
To officially cancel something or state that it is no longer valid.
Grammar: Takes an object: devalidate the voucher. The object is the thing being canceled, not the person.
Patterns
- devalidate something
- devalidate a document
- devalidate a ticket
The airline devalidated all tickets bought through the fake website.
Once the contract was devalidated, the workers had no legal protection.
The system automatically devalidates a parking pass after midnight.
verbtransitivetechnical
To make a result, test, or piece of research no longer acceptable as proof.
Grammar: Takes an object; often used in the passive: the test was devalidated.
Patterns
- devalidate a result
- devalidate a test
- be devalidated by something
A single mistake in the procedure can devalidate the whole experiment.
The new evidence devalidated the earlier findings.
Their results were devalidated because the equipment had not been calibrated.
Word forms
| third person singular | devalidates |
|---|---|
| past tense | devalidated |
| past participle | devalidated |
| -ing form | devalidating |
Common combinations
- devalidate a ticket
- The inspector devalidated my ticket because I had traveled past my stop.
- devalidate a contract
- Lawyers may devalidate a contract that was signed under pressure.
- devalidate a result
- Poor record-keeping can devalidate a result in a scientific study.
- automatically devalidate
- The app will automatically devalidate any code that has already been used.
- be devalidated by the court
- The sale was devalidated by the court after the fraud was discovered.
Synonyms and how they differ
- invalidate
- The more common and more general word; use it in ordinary writing, and keep devalidate for official or technical contexts.
- cancel
- Everyday and neutral; it covers appointments and orders as well as documents, while devalidate sounds official.
- void
- Often used for contracts and payments and can be a verb or an adjective; stronger and more legal in tone.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: devalidate or devalue? devalidate or invalidate?
devalidate vs devalue
Devalue means to reduce the value or worth of something, especially a currency; devalidate means to cancel or remove official acceptance.
devalidate vs invalidate
Very close in meaning, but invalidate is far more common and works in general English, while devalidate is mostly used in business and technical writing.
Practice
The company ______ the coupons after the promotion ended, so customers could no longer use them.
Choose one answer.
Devalidate is transitive, so it takes a direct object with no preposition: the company devalidated the coupons. Adding from, to, or by changes the structure and does not fit this sentence.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “devalidate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.