refuse

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
9
Words With Friends
10
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/ˈɹɛfjuːs/
See all 3 pronunciations
/ˈɹɛfjuːs/ · /ɹɪˈfjuːz/ · /ɹiːˈfjuːz/

Definition of refuse

9 senses · 3 parts of speech · etymology included

adj

  1. Discarded, rejected.
See all 9 definitions

adj

  1. Discarded, rejected.

noun

  1. (uncountable)Collectively, items or material that have been discarded; rubbish, garbage.
  2. (obsolete)refusal
    “This ſpoken, readie with a proud refuſe [...]”

verb

  1. (transitive)To decline (a request or demand).
    “My request for a pay rise was refused.”
    “After the death of his [Verney's] first wife, he proposed to Florence Nightingale but she refused him. Later he married her sister, and for many years Claydon was Miss Nightingale's second home.”
  2. (intransitive)To decline a request or demand, forbear; to withhold permission.
    “I refuse to listen to this nonsense any more.”
    “I asked the star if I could have her autograph, but she refused.”
    “If ye refuse […] ye shall be devoured with the sword.”
    “The U. N. sent a commission to arrange for election of a Korean government. Russia and her satellites declined to cooperate with this Commission. Russia refused to let the Commission hold an election in north Korea, or even to enter north Korea. In southern Korea Leftist parties refused to meet with the Commission.”
    “Eventually, the railway opened on Monday, December 14, 1896, with a universal fare of 1d. collected at the turnstiles, and conditions were immediately chaotic, as many passengers travelled round and round, and refused to leave the cars.”
  3. (ditransitive)To withhold (something) from (someone); to not give it to them or to bar them from having it.
    “If we bang or scream they will spray us with some pepper or something else that's in an aeresol ^([sic]) can, and they wear gas masks, while the rest of us have to breathe the fumes in, and it makes us very sick and they refuse us medical treatment.”
  4. To throw back, or cause to keep back (as the centre, a wing, or a flank), out of the regular alignment when troops are about to engage the enemy.
    “to refuse the right wing while the left wing attacks”
  5. (obsolete, transitive)To disown.
    “Refuse thy name.”
  6. To fuse again, as with, or after, heating or melting.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

Borrowed into late Middle English from Middle French refusé, past participle of refuser (“to refuse”). Displaced native Middle English wernen (“to refuse”)

Hooks

3 extensions · 3 back

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