confutation

[kon-fyoo-tey-shuhn]

noun

1. the act of confuting.

2. something that confutes.

3. Classical Oratory.,  the fourth section of a speech, given over to direct refutation.

Other Word Forms

• confutative adjective
• unconfutative adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of confutation¹

1425–75; late Middle English confutacioun (< Middle French ) < Latin confūtātiōn- (stem of confūtātiō ), equivalent to confūtāt ( us ) silenced (past participle of confūtāre; confute, -ate ¹ ) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

Some are, but others take place silently, as Boyle says, without anyone bothering to write confutations of the old theory.

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One Simon Geddicus, a Lutheran divine, wrote a serious confutation of this libel upon the fair sex, in 1595, and promises the ladies an expectation of salvation on their good behaviour.

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At such times the sight of that road whence he had looked upwards to her window was a consolation, almost a confutation of her dreams.

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Such a scrupulous confutation of self is to be expected as little from mystic visions as from arrogant dogmatism.

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The idea of a revengeful God is likewise one of that sort, but this idea of divinity being borrowed from a savage nature, needs no further confutation.

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Related Words

• conflict 
• difference 
• disagreement 
• discrepancy 
• dispute 
• inconsistency