refute

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WOTD - 24 November 2007    

Contents

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Latin refūtō

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Verb

Infinitive
to refute

Third person singular
refutes

Simple past
refuted

Past participle
refuted

Present participle
refuting

to 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.
    • 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.
  2. (transitive) To deny the truth or correctness of (something).

[edit] Usage notes

The second meaning of refute (to deny the truth of) is proscribed as erroneous by some (cf 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. However, this distinction does not exist in the original Latin refūtō (“‘oppose, resist, rebut’”), which can apply to both senses.

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Antonyms

[edit] Related terms

[edit] Translations

to prove (something) to be false or incorrect
to deny the truth or correctness of (something)
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