re·fuse 1 (r -fy z )v. re·fused, re·fus·ing, re·fus·es v.tr.1. a. To indicate unwillingness to do, accept, give, or allow: She was refused admittance. He refused treatment. b. To indicate unwillingness (to do something): refused to leave. 2. 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 *ref s re, probably blend of Latin rec s re, to refuse; see recuse and Latin ref t re, refute; see refute.]
re·fus er n. Synonyms: refuse1, decline, reject, spurn, rebuff 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·use 2 (r f y s)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.] |
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