refute

See also: réfuté, réfute, and refuté

English

WOTD – 24 November 2007

Etymology

From Latin refūtō (“refute, repudiate”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US): enPR: rə-fyo͞ot, IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈfjuːt/, /ɹəˈfjut/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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• 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.
   • 1791, James Boswell, The life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.‎^[1]:

     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).

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. However, this distinction does not exist in the original Latin refūtō (“oppose, resist, rebut”), which can apply to both senses.
• 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.

Synonyms

• (prove (something) to be false): debunk, disprove, rebut
• (deny the truth or correctness): deny, gainsay, rebut, reject, repudiate

Antonyms

• (prove (something) to be false): demonstrate, prove
• (deny the truth or correctness): accept, embrace

Derived terms

• self-refute

Related terms

• 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
• Malayalam: ദൂഷണം (ml) (dūṣaṇaṁ), നിരാകരിക്കൽ (nirākarikkal)
• Norwegian: motbevise
• Portuguese: refutar (pt), desmentir (pt)
• Romanian: refuta (ro)
• Russian: опроверга́ть (ru) impf (oprovergátʹ), опрове́ргнуть (ru) pf (oprovérgnutʹ)
• Sanskrit: दूषण (sa) m (dūṣaṇa)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: оповрга́вати pf, опо̀вргнути impf

  Roman: opovrgávati (sh) pf, opòvrgnuti (sh) impf

• Slovene: ovreči
• Spanish: refutar (es), rebatir (es), negar la mayor
• Swedish: motbevisa (sv), vederlägga (sv)
• Turkish: aksini ispatlamak (tr), delilleri çürütmek (tr), yanlışlığını kanıtlamak (tr)
• Vietnamese: bác bỏ (vi)

to deny the truth or correctness of (something)

• Arabic: كَذَّبَ (ar) (kaḏḏaba)
• Armenian: հերքել (hy) (herkʻel)
• Bulgarian: отхвърлям (bg) (othvǎrljam)
• Czech: zavrhnout (cs)
• 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