refuse definition | Dictionary.com

re⋅fuse

1 [ri-fyooz]

verb, -fused, -fus⋅ing.

–verb (used with object)

1.	to decline to accept (something offered): to refuse an award.

2.	to decline to give; deny (a request, demand, etc.): to refuse permission.

3.	to express a determination not to (do something): to refuse to discuss the question.

4.	to decline to submit to.

5.	(of a horse) to decline to leap over (a barrier).

6.	to decline to accept (a suitor) in marriage.

7.	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.

8.	Obsolete. to renounce.

–verb (used without object)

9.	to decline acceptance, consent, or compliance.

Origin:
1300–50; ME refusen < MF refuser, OF ≪ L refūsus, ptp. of refundere to pour back; see refund ¹

Related forms:

re⋅fus⋅a⋅ble, adjective

re⋅fus⋅er, noun

Synonyms:
1. rebuff. 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.

Antonyms:
1. accept, welcome.

ref⋅use

2 [ref-yoos]

–noun

1.	something that is discarded as worthless or useless; rubbish; trash; garbage.

–adjective

2.	rejected as worthless; discarded: refuse matter.

Origin:
1325–75; ME < MF; OF refus denial, rejection, deriv. of refuser to refuse ¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To refuse

re·fuse¹ (rĭ-fyōōz')

v. re·fused, re·fus·ing, re·fus·es

v. tr.

1. To indicate unwillingness to do, accept, give, or allow: She was refused admittance. He refused treatment.
2. To indicate unwillingness (to do something): refused to leave.
To decline to jump (an obstacle). Used of a horse.

v. intr.
To decline to do, accept, give, or allow something.

[Middle English refusen, from Old French refuser, from Vulgar Latin *refūsāre, probably blend of Latin recūsāre, to refuse; see recuse and Latin refūtāre, refute; see refute.]
re·fus'er n.

Synonyms: These verbs all mean to be unwilling to accept, consider, or receive someone or something. Refuse usually implies determination and often brusqueness: "The commander . . . refused to discuss questions of right" (George Bancroft). "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse" (Mario Puzo).
To decline is to refuse courteously: "I declined election to the National Institute of Arts and Letters . . . and now I must decline the Pulitzer Prize" (Sinclair Lewis).
Reject suggests the discarding of someone or something as defective or useless; it implies categoric refusal: "He again offered himself for enlistment and was again rejected" (Arthur S.M. Hutchinson).
To spurn is to reject scornfully or contemptuously: "The more she spurns my love,/The more it grows" ( Shakespeare).
Rebuff pertains to blunt, often disdainful rejection: "He had . . . gone too far in his advances, and had been rebuffed" (Robert Louis Stevenson).

ref·use² (rěf'yōōs)

n. Items or material discarded or rejected as useless or worthless; trash or rubbish.

[Middle English, from Old French refus, rejection, refuse, from refuser, to refuse; see refuse¹.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Refuse

Re*fuse"\ (r?*f?z"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Refused (-f?zd"); p. pr. & vb. n. Refusing.] [F. refuser, either from (assumed) LL. refusare to refuse, v. freq. of L. refundere to pour back, give back, restore (see Refund to repay), or. fr. L. recusare to decline, refuse cf. Accuse, Ruse), influenced by L. refutare to drive back, repel, refute. Cf. Refute.]

1. To deny, as a request, demand, invitation, or command; to decline to do or grant.

That never yet refused your hest. --Chaucer.

2. (Mil.) To throw back, or cause to keep back (as the center, a wing, or a flank), out of the regular aligment when troops ar? about to engage the enemy; as, to refuse the right wing while the left wing attacks.

3. To decline to accept; to reject; to deny the request or petition of; as, to refuse a suitor.

The cunning workman never doth refuse The meanest tool that he may chance to use. --Herbert.

4. To disown. [Obs.] "Refuse thy name." --Shak.

Refuse

Re*fuse"\, v. i. To deny compliance; not to comply.

Too proud to ask, too humble to refuse. --Garth.

If ye refuse . . . ye shall be devoured with the sword. --Isa. i. 20.

Refuse

Re*fuse"\, n. Refusal. [Obs.] --Fairfax.

Refuse

Ref`use\ (r?f"?s;277), n. [F. refus refusal, also, that which is refused. See Refuse to deny.] That which is refused or rejected as useless; waste or worthless matter.

Syn: Dregs; sediment; scum; recrement; dross.

Refuse

Ref"use\, a. Refused; rejected; hence; left as unworthy of acceptance; of no value; worthless.

Everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. --1. Sam. xv. 9.

Language Translation for : refuse

Spanish: negarse (a),

German: sich weigern,

Japanese: 拒絶する

More Translations »

refuse (v.)

c.1300, from O.Fr. refuser (12c.), from V.L. *refusare, frequentative of pp. stem of L. refundere "pour back, give back" (see refund). Refusal first recorded 1474. Refusenik "Soviet Jew who has been refused permission to immigrate to Israel" (1975) is a partial transl. of Rus. otkaznik, from otkazat "to refuse."

refuse (n.)

c.1374 (adj.), "outcast;" meaning "waste, trash" is from c.1440; from O.Fr. refus "waste product, rubbish," a back-formation from the pp. of refuser (see refuse (v.)).

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