Definition

to be (render) entirely idle (useless), literally or figuratively

Etymology

from G2596 (κατά) and G691 (ἀργέω);

Where the KJV renders it

• abolish
• cease
• cumber
• deliver
• destroy
• do away
• become (make) of no (none
• without) effect
• fail
• loose
• bring (come) to nought
• put away (down)
• vanish away
• make void

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Greek term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.