refutes

Verb

refute (third-person singular simple present refutes, present participle refuting, simple past and past participle refuted)

1. (transitive) 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.

   Synonyms:

   debunk, disprove, rebut, confound

   Antonyms:

   confirm, affirm, demonstrate, prove

2. (proscribed, transitive) 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

   Synonyms:

   dispute, deny, repudiate, rebut, gainsay, counterargue, reject

   Antonyms:

   affirm, accept, embrace, profess