refute
Syllables: re·futeUK/ɹɪˈfjuːt//ɹɪˈfjut/
refute verb: to prove (something) to be false or incorrect.
Verb
refute (third-person singular simple present refutes, present participle refuting, simple past and past participle refuted)
- To prove (something) to be false or incorrect.
- After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute...1791, James Boswell, The life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.
- Antonyms:
- confirm, affirm, demonstrate, prove
- To deny the truth or correctness of (something); to reject or disagree with an accusation.
- A spokesperson for VARS Technology said: “We completely refute the suggestion that our market-leading ANPR system is unreliable".2025 December 20, Taro Kaneko, “Family ‘banned from more than 1,000 petrol stations’ amid fuel theft row”, in The Guardian
refute meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
refute in Hindi
- to prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- दूषण dūṣaṇ
refute in Tamil
- தவறெனச் சுட்டு, தவறெனநாட்டு, மறுத்துரை, மறுத்துவிடு
refute in Urdu
- کاٹنا, مسترد کرنا, رد کرنا, غلط, جھوٹا ثابت کرنا
refute in Bengali
- খণ্ডন করা, ভুল প্রমাণ করা
More languagesFewer languages
- refute in Malayalam
- ദൂഷണം dūṣaṇaṁ, നിരാകരിക്കൽ nirākarikkal
- refute in Kannada
- ಅಲ್ಲಗಳೆ, ತಪ್ಪೆಂದು ರುಜುವಾತುಪಡಿಸು, ತಪ್ಪೆಂದು ವಾದಿಸು, ತಿರಸ್ಕರಿಸು
- refute in Punjabi
- ਕੱਟਣਾ kaṭṭaṇā
- refute in Odia
- ଖଣ୍ଡିବା khaṇḍibā
- refute in Sanskrit
- दूषण dūṣaṇa
- refute in Arabic
- دَحَضَ daḥaḍa, أَدْحَضَ ʔadḥaḍa, فَنَّدَ fannada, كَذَّبَ kaḏḏaba
- refute in Vietnamese
- bác bỏ
Examples of refute in a sentence
- In order to maintain a consistency in the defense, I will follow the line established by attorney Jacobs of allowing the prosecution to suggest motives, and then refuting them.
- Another interpretation rightly refutes any symbolic hypothesis of the wearing of the mi-parti.
- I think when you're refuting accusations of wrongdoing, seriositude is the way to go.
Synonyms of refute
Antonyms
Forms of refute
| third-person singular present | refutes |
|---|---|
| present participle | refuting |
| past participle | refuted |
| past | refuted |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | refutest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | refutedst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | refuteth |
Origin of refute
From Latin refūtō (“refute, repudiate”).
Words formed from refute
Words that rhyme with refute
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- cute
- moot
- overshoot
- recruit
- salute
- volute
- dispute
- impute
- pollute
- scoot
- snoot
- substitute
- chute
- depute
- dilute
- hoot
- loot
- pursuit
- reboot
- scute
- uproot
- Beirut
- cahoot
- Clute
- convolute
- lute
- zoot
- ablute
- Aleut
- argute
- astute
- beaut
- bruit
- compute
- coot
- doot
- en route
- glout
- jute
- minute
- newt
- poot
- repute
- resolute
- 'tute
- angel lute
- butte
- cheroot
Questions about refute
- What does refute mean?
- Refute means to prove (something) to be false or incorrect.
- What is refute in Hindi?
- Refute in Hindi is दूषण (dūṣaṇ). See Refute meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is refute?
- Refute is a verb.
- How do you pronounce refute?
- Refute is pronounced /ɹɪˈfjuːt/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of refute?
- The past tense of refute is refuted.
Words near refute in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: refute (page history and authors); refute (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); refute (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); refute (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); refute (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਕੱਟਣਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ଖଣ୍ଡିବା (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-refute.ogg, en-au-refute.ogg.
Cite this entry: “refute.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/refute. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.