Past tense of refuse
regular verb
The past tense of refuse is refused. The past participle is also refused.
Forms of refuse
| Base form (V1) | refuse /ˈɹɛfjuːs/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | refused /ɹɪˈfjuːzd/ |
| Past participle (V3) | refused /ɹɪˈfjuːzd/ |
| Present participle | refusing /ɹɪˈfjuːzɪŋ/ |
| Third person singular | refuses |
Refused in a sentence
- My request for a pay rise was refused.
- I asked the star if I could have her autograph, but she refused.
- He died a little inside each time she refused to speak to him.From the entry die
- The proposed gas tax died after the powerful rural senator refused to let it out of committee.From the entry die
- He wouldn't apologize; and just for that, she refused to help him.From the entry for
Meaning of refuse
- adjective Discarded, rejected.
- noun Collectively, items or material that have been discarded; rubbish, garbage.
- verb To decline (a request or demand).
Questions about the past tense of refuse
- What is the past tense of refuse?
- The past tense of refuse is refused.
- What is the past participle of refuse?
- The past participle of refuse is refused.
- Is refuse a regular or irregular verb?
- Refuse is a regular verb: its past tense adds -d.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: refuse (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Past tense of refuse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/refuse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.