re·fuse
1 (rĭ-fyōōź)
[Middle English refusen, from Old French refuser, from Vulgar Latin* refūsāre, probably blend of Latin recūsāre, to refuse; see recuse, Latin refūtāre, refute; see refute.]
verb: -fused, -fus·ing, -fus·es.
transitive verb
- To indicate unwillingness to do, accept, give, or allow: She was refused admittance. He refused treatment.
- To indicate unwillingness (to do something): refused to leave.
- To decline to jump (an obstacle). Used of a horse.
intransitive verb
- To decline to do, accept, give, or allow something.
derivatives
- re·fuśer
- noun
synonyms:
refuse1decline, 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 (rĕf́yōōs)
[Middle English, from Old French refus, rejection, refuse, from refuser, to refuse; see refuse1.]
noun
- Items or material discarded or rejected as useless or worthless; trash or rubbish.
