refuse
1 Americanverb (used with object)
-
to decline to accept (something offered).
to refuse an award.
- Synonyms:
- rebuff
-
to decline to give; deny (a request, demand, etc.).
to refuse permission.
-
to express a determination not to (do something).
to refuse to discuss the question.
-
to decline to submit to.
-
(of a horse) to decline to leap over (a barrier).
-
to decline to accept (a suitor) in marriage.
-
Military. to bend or curve back (the flank units of a military force) so that they face generally to the flank rather than the front.
-
Obsolete. to renounce.
verb (used without object)
noun
adjective
verb
-
(tr) to decline to accept (something offered)
to refuse a present
to refuse promotion
-
to decline to give or grant (something) to (a person, organization, etc)
-
(when tr, takes an infinitive) to express determination not (to do something); decline
he refuses to talk about it
-
(of a horse) to be unwilling to take (a jump), as by swerving or stopping
-
(tr) (of a woman) to declare one's unwillingness to accept (a suitor) as a husband
noun
Related Words
Refuse, decline, reject, spurn all imply nonacceptance of something. To decline is milder and more courteous than to refuse, which is direct and often emphatic in expressing determination not to accept what is offered or proposed: to refuse a bribe; to decline an invitation. To reject is even more positive and definite than refuse : to reject a suitor. To spurn is to reject with scorn: to spurn a bribe.
Other Word Forms
- quasi-refused adjective
- refusable adjective
- refuser noun
- unrefusable adjective
- unrefused adjective
- unrefusing adjective
Etymology
Origin of refuse1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English refusen, from Middle French refuser, Old French ultimately from Latin refūsus, past participle of refundere “to pour back”; refund 1
Origin of refuse2
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English from Middle French, Old French refus “dross, waste,” derivative of refuser to refuse 1
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.
But his Artega tribe, which has administered the city since the sixth century with powers "passed from father to son", refused to leave.
From Barron's
"I've tried to make contact with my son more than once, but he refuses to reply."
From BBC
“They absolutely refused to accept the argument that the committee is independent,” Harpviken said.
In one fifth season episode she even goes to jail for refusing to reveal a source.
From Salon
Progress, as he understood it, meant refusing to be cowed by fear—a resolve he said he first witnessed among Jamaican anticolonial activists, and later on the front lines of the civil-rights movement.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
