Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of confutation
1425–75; late Middle English confutacioun (< Middle French ) < Latin confūtātiōn- (stem of confūtātiō ), equivalent to confūtāt ( us ) silenced (past participle of confūtāre; see confute, -ate 1) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
A confutation is the act of refuting someone's point forcefully. Accused criminals must offer confutation if they hope to be found innocent. If you know the verb confute — which means to overwhelm through an argument — this noun will be a no-brainer: it refers to the act of confuting, or a statement that confutes. The meaning is not that far removed from refutation, with which confutation shares a Latin root. A confutation proves that another idea is false or nonsensical. People who argue for a living, like lawyers, are masters of confutation.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Almost simultaneously Artist Thomas Gainsborough produced his famed Blue Boy, intentionally or not a complete confutation of haughty Artist Reynolds.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
From Miranda of the Balcony A Story by A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodle) Mason
The words italicized by us above illustrate the intrepid firmness of our author in staking the fortune of an opinion of his upon the risk of confutation by future fact.
From French Classics by William Cleaver Wilkinson
Arguments of those denying the Earth's motion, and their confutation.
From On the magnet, magnetick bodies also, and on the great magnet the earth a new physiology, demonstrated by many arguments & experiments by William Gilbert
The absurd rhapsody has been worth preserving, for the sake of the masterly confutation: no uncommon result of Warburton’s literary labours!
From Calamities and Quarrels of Authors by Isaac Disraeli
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