rebuttal

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English rebut

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālislbor.

Old French -albor.

▲

Latin -ālis

Old French -elbor.

▲

Latin -ālisbor.

Middle English -al

English -al

English rebuttal

From rebut + -al.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈbʌt.əl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɹiˈbʌt.əl/, [ɹiˈbʌɾ.əl]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Australia) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈbat.əl/, [ɹɪˈbaɾ.əl]
• Rhymes: -ʌtəl

Noun

rebuttal (plural rebuttals)

1. The act of contradicting something by making a contrary argument, or presenting contrary evidence.

   Synonym: see at refutation

   • 2023 August 17, Aditya Chakrabortty, “Can’t pay and they really do take it away: what happens when the bailiffs come knocking”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     For those who imagine the capital flows with milk and honey, or avocado and sourdough, Edmonton is your rebuttal. Once full of light industry, today it has some of the most deprived areas in England.

2. A statement, designed to refute or negate specific arguments put forward by opponents.
3. (law) A pleading by a defendant in reply to the evidence put forward by a plaintiff or the prosecution.

Usage notes

• See at refute.

Derived terms

• counterrebuttal
• prebuttal
• rebuffal
• right of rebuttal

Related terms

• rebut
• rebuttable
• rebutter

Translations

act of refuting something by making a contrary argument — see also refutation

• Belarusian: абвяржэ́нне n (abvjaržénnje)
• Bulgarian: отричане (bg) n (otričane), отхвърляне (bg) n (othvărljane)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 反駁 / 反驳 (zh) (fǎnbó)

• Dutch: weerlegging (nl) f
• Finnish: vastaväite (fi)
• German: Erwiderung (de) f, Gegenschrift (de) f (in writing), Gegenbeweis (de) m (law), Widerlegung (de) f, Zurückweisung (de) f
• Greek: ανασκευή (el) f (anaskeví)
• Hindi: खंडन (hi) m (khaṇḍan)
• Indonesian: bidasan (id), sanggahan (id)
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Japanese: 反論 (ja) (はんろん, hanron)
• Kazakh: жоққа шығару (joqqa šığaruw), өтірікке шығару (ötirikke šığaruw), теріске шығару (teriske šığaruw)
• Norwegian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: опровержение (ru) (oproverženije)
• Spanish: zasca (es) m, impugnación (es) f, rebatimiento m
• Swedish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: спростува́ння n (sprostuvánnja)

Further reading

• “rebuttal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “rebuttal”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• burletta