refute

See also: réfuté, réfute, and refuté

English

WOTD – 24 November 2007

Etymology

From Latin refūtō (“refute, repudiate”).

Pronunciation

enPR: rĭ-fyo͞ot, rə-fyo͞ot

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈfjuːt/, /ɹəˈfjuːt/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈfjut/, /ɹəˈfjut/

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈfjʉːt/

  • Audio (Queensland):

    (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ɹəˈfjʉːt/
• Hyphenation: re‧fute
• Rhymes: -uːt

Verb

refute (third-person singular simple present refutes, present participle refuting, simple past and past participle refuted)

1. (transitive) To prove (something) to be false or incorrect.

   Synonyms: debunk, disprove, rebut, confound

   Antonyms: confirm, affirm, demonstrate, prove

   • 1791, James Boswell, The life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.‎:

     After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it, "I refute it thus."

2. (transitive, proscribed) To deny the truth or correctness of (something); to reject or disagree with an accusation.
   • 2025 December 20, Taro Kaneko, “Family ‘banned from more than 1,000 petrol stations’ amid fuel theft row”, in The Guardian‎:

     A spokesperson for VARS Technology said: “We completely refute the suggestion that our market-leading ANPR system is unreliable".

   Synonyms: dispute, deny, repudiate, rebut, gainsay, counterargue, reject

   Antonyms: affirm, accept, embrace, profess

Usage notes

• The second meaning of refute (“to deny the truth of”) is proscribed as erroneous by some (compare Merriam Webster,1994). An alternative term with such a meaning is repudiate, which means to reject or refuse to acknowledge, but without the implication of justification.
• Refute is also often confused with rebut; a rebuttal, in formal debate terms, is a counter-refutation, and it also has a specific legal sense, though like refutation, the word has taken on the informal and disputed meaning of denial.

Conjugation

Conjugation of refute

infinitive	(to) refute
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	refute	refuted
2nd-person singular	refute, refutest†	refuted, refutedst†
3rd-person singular	refutes, refuteth†	refuted
plural	refute
subjunctive	refute	refuted
imperative	refute	—
participles	refuting	refuted

^† Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms

• nonrefuted
• nonrefuting
• self-refute
• unrefuted
• unrefuting

Related terms

• refudiate (nonstandard)
• refusal
• refuse
• refutability
• refutable
• refutably
• refutal
• refutation
• refuted
• refuter

Translations

to prove (something) to be false or incorrect

Arabic: دَحَضَ (ar) (daḥaḍa), أَدْحَضَ (ʔadḥaḍa), فَنَّدَ (fannada) Armenian: հերքել (hy) (herkʻel) Azerbaijani: təkzib etmək Bulgarian: опровергавам (bg) (oprovergavam) Catalan: refutar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 反駁 / 反驳 (zh) (fǎnbó) Czech: vyvrátit (cs) Dutch: weerleggen (nl), refuteren Esperanto: refuti Finnish: osoittaa vääräksi French: réfuter (fr) German: widerlegen (de), entkräften (de) Greek: αντικρούω (el) (antikroúo), ανασκευάζω (el) (anaskevázo) Ancient: εὐθύνω (euthúnō) Hebrew: הִפְרִיךְ (he) (hifrikh) Hindi: दूषण (hi) (dūṣaṇ) Hungarian: cáfol (hu) Italian: smentire (it) Japanese: 言い返す (ja) (iikaesu), 反駁する (ja) (hambaku suru) Latin: refellō (la), refūtō, redarguō Low German: East Frisian: weerläegen Malayalam: ദൂഷണം (ml) (dūṣaṇaṁ), നിരാകരിക്കൽ (nirākarikkal) North Frisian: Sylt: weđerlii Norwegian: motbevise Portuguese: refutar (pt), desmentir (pt) Romanian: refuta (ro) Russian: опроверга́ть (ru) impf (oprovergátʹ), опрове́ргнуть (ru) pf (oprovérgnutʹ) Sanskrit: दूषण (sa) m (dūṣaṇa) Saterland Frisian: wierlääse Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: оповрга́вати pf, опо̀вргнути impf Roman: opovrgávati (sh) pf, opòvrgnuti (sh) impf Slovene: ovreči Spanish: refutar (es), rebatir (es), negar la mayor, ripostar (es), impugnar (es), salir al paso de Swedish: motbevisa (sv), vederlägga (sv) Turkish: aksini ispatlamak (tr), delilleri çürütmek (tr), yanlışlığını kanıtlamak (tr) Vietnamese: bác bỏ (vi) West Frisian: wjerlizze

to deny the truth or correctness of (something)

Arabic: كَذَّبَ (ar) (kaḏḏaba) Armenian: հերքել (hy) (herkʻel) Bulgarian: отхвърлям (bg) (othvǎrljam) Czech: zavrhnout (cs), popřít (cs) pf Dutch: weigeren (nl) Esperanto: nei Finnish: kiistää (fi), kieltää (fi) French: rejeter (fr), contester (fr), chicaner (fr), récuser (fr) German: anfechten (de), widersprechen (de) Greek: διαψεύδω (el) (diapsévdo) Hungarian: tagad (hu) Italian: smentire (it) Japanese: 言い返す (ja) (iikaesu), 反駁する (ja) (hambaku suru), 反証する (ja) (hanshō suru) Maori: whākorekore, whawhati Ngazidja Comorian: ukadhibisha Portuguese: negar (pt) Russian: отрица́ть (ru) impf (otricátʹ) Spanish: negar (es) rehusar (es), rechazar (es) Turkish: karşı çıkmak (tr), reddetmek (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: (please verify) réfuter (fr) Italian: (please verify) confutare (it)

Anagrams

• Fuerte, feuter, feutre

Galician

Verb

refute

1. inflection of refutar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Middle English

Alternative forms

• refeut, reffute, refuit, refut, refutt, refuyt, refyte

Etymology

From Old French refuite, from refuir (“to flee”). Compare refuge.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rɛˈfiu̯t(ə)/

Noun

refute (uncountable)

1. refuge (state of protection or comfort)
2. refuge (place of protection or comfort)
3. A protector or comforter.

References

• “refūt(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Portuguese

Verb

refute

1. inflection of refutar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Verb

refute

1. inflection of refutar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative