Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use denial in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun

Denial means an assertion of untruth. Example: “The singer has issued a sweeping denial of all the rumors.”

Examples of denial by meaning

nounAn assertion of untruth.

  • The singer has issued a sweeping denial of all the rumors.

nounThe negation in logic.

  • The denial of "There might be X" is the null, "False, there is no X."

nounA refusal or failure to provide or grant something that is requested or desired.

  • The denial of medical treatment to those who cannot afford to pay is scandalous.
  • I cannot understand the bank's denial of my loan application.
  • Every time we asked for an interview we got a denial.

nounRefusal to believe that a problem exists.

  • We couldn't break through his denial about being alcoholic.
  • Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become.2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21

nounRefusal to admit responsibility for wrongdoing.

  • Denial is the first act when the perpetrator refutes the very nature of the planned measures, explaining the steps as justified and legitimate actions to cope with the identified problem.2013, Vahagn Avedian, “Recognition, Responsibility and Reconciliation: The Trinity of the Armenian Genocide”, in Europa Ethnica, volume 70...

nounNegationism, denialism of historical facts or accepted interpretation.

  • However, just as genocide is understood by some—including Raphael Lemkin—as a kind of radical, perverse act of creation, so too, denial does not aim only at a negation of reality but also at the creation of a new reality.2015, Marc Mamigonian, “Academic Denial of the Armenian Genocide in American Scholarship: Denialism as Manufactured Controversy”, in...

nounA defense mechanism involving a refusal to accept the truth of a phenomenon or prospect.

  • He is in denial that he has a drinking problem.
  • "Denial" came out of the therapyspeak prevalent in the middle of the 20th century, especially as it was applied to confronting the reality of mortality.2007 February 11, “No facts, just emotion”, in Washington Times, retrieved 11 Jun 2013

nounA disownment or disavowal.

  • The denial of Jesus by Peter.

More sentences with denial

  • A genocide will always be followed by the denial that it ever happened.From the entry genocide
  • A booming Maga media further amplified the president’s lies and denials.2025 October 2, William Davies, “A critique of pure stupidity: understanding Trump 2.0”, in The Guardian. From the entry fake
  • The more profound and consequential the issue, the more stubborn our denial.2023 September 18, Charles Hugh Smith, The Peculiar Power of Denial. From the entry consequential
  • How can society overcome the paralysis caused by “infowhelm” and denial?2022, Rachel Dreyfus, Anna Price, “How companies and organizations can overcome ‘infowhelm’ and motivate action for the planet”, in…. From the entry infowhelm
  • Obviously, use of the word mais gives T'Boy's denial a lot more credibility.2021 March 22, Sam Irwin, It Happens in Louisiana: Peculiar Tales, Traditions & Recipes from the Bayou, Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN. From the entry t-boy
  • Denial and disbelief tend to be the default, not a pragmatic embracing of unthinkables and unpalatables.2019, Paul Williams, Andreas Krebs, The Illusion of Invincibility. From the entry unpalatable
  • Denial can be as simple as refusing to accept that someone else is speaking truthfully.2018 August 3, Keith Kahn-Harris, “Denialism: what drives people to reject the truth”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry denialism
  • In fact, when you review the history of Republican climate denial, it looks a lot like Trumpism.2018 December 3, Paul Krugman, “Climate Denial Was the Crucible for Trumpism”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 07 Nov…. From the entry Trumpism
  • As it is, however, climate denial is rooted in greed, opportunism, and ego.2018 November 27, Paul Krugman, “The Depravity of Climate-Change Denial”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, page A22. From the entry climate denial
  • It’s really significant, Trevor, that Donald Trump is now the face of climate denial.2018 November 29, Avi Selk, quoting Al Gore, “Al Gore calls Trump ‘the principal global face of climate denial’”, in The Washington Post. From the entry climate denial
  • She preempted his denial holding out a flat palm in his direction.2016, K. M. Daughters, Fill the Stadium, The Wild Rose Press Inc, →ISBN. From the entry preempt
  • You respond with an honest denial, which is then used as further confirmation of your guilt.2014 August 14, Wendy McElroy, “Beware of Kafkatrapping”, in The Daily Bell. From the entry kafkatrapping
  • Historical denial asserts that a well-known event never really happened or that a well-known person never existed.2011, Robert C. Williams, The Historian's Toolbox, →ISBN, page 31. From the entry antihistory
  • "If you print that, I'll sue you." A non-denial denial if ever there was one.2000 January 13, Julia Hartley-Brewer, “Diary”, in The Guardian, UK, retrieved 11 Jun 2013. From the entry non-denial denial
  • Still, denial persists regarding the existence and sociolinguistic vitality of Ebonic language varieties.1994, Steven Gregory, Roger Sanjek, Race. From the entry ebonic
  • For gay men, this heritage can lead to violence in their relationships and denial about their victimization.1989 April 22, Jay Reed, “Naming and Confronting Gay Male Battering”, in Gay Community News, page 9. From the entry misteach
  • His denials were as meaningless as his avouchments, and reputable journalists heard him.1959, Richard H. Rovere, “What He Was and What He Did-1”, in Senator Joe McCarthy, Cleveland: Meridian, published 1963, page 31. From the entry avouchment
  • And when Thou foretoldest to him his denial, he did not believe Thee.1948, Thomas S[amuel] Kepler, compiler, The Fellowship of the Saints: An Anthology of Christian Devotional Literature, New York, N.Y.…. From the entry foretoldest
  • And by denial they drove him on till he was all aburst with desire.1911, Jack London, “When God Laughs”, in When God Laughs, and Other Stories, New York: Macmillan, page 22. From the entry aburst
  • This state of denial may be an unintentional self-lie.2019 May 22, Rachel Shenhav-Goldberg, “By going vegan, Israelis can avoid talking about human rights”, in +972 Magazine. From the entry self-lie
  • Denialism is an expansion, an intensification, of denial.2018 August 3, Keith Kahn-Harris, “Denialism: what drives people to reject the truth”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry denialism
  • People whose provinces receive equalization payments are largely in denial about living in have-not regions, a poll suggests.2015 April 22, Brian Daly, “Most have-not provinces in denial about getting equalization: Poll”, in Toronto Sun, Canada, retrieved 21 Oct…. From the entry equalization payment
  • So we could go from climate denial to climate despair.2015 March 24, Jonathan Mingle, quoting Durwood Zaelke, Fire and Ice: Soot, Solidarity, and Survival on the Roof of the World, St.…. From the entry climate despair
  • The most notorious example of antihistory is historical denial.2011, Robert C. Williams, The Historian's Toolbox, →ISBN, page 31. From the entry antihistory
  • His Holocaust denial is a flagrant ploy—the easiest way to get a rise out of the Jewish community.2007 September 26, Joe Klein, “Inflating a Little Man”, in Time. From the entry get a rise out of
  • Switzerland’s antiracism legislation has previously been applied to Holocaust denial.2007 March 10, The Associated Press, “Swiss Convict Turkish Politician for Denying Armenian Genocide”, in New York Times. From the entry antiracism
  • Acid throwing is one of the heinous activities occurred by angry youths out of denial of proposal for love.1999, AKM Ahsan Ullah, Abdar Rahman, Munira Murshed, “Dwellers and Their Vulnerabilities”, in Poverty and Migration: Slums of Dhaka City…. From the entry vindictivity
  • Children embarrass us because they point ever too cleverly and clearly to our denial of personal, material, and maternal history.1998, Michael Rectenwald, “Reading around the Kids”, in Constance Coiner, Diana Hume George, The Family Track: Keeping Your Faculties…. From the entry pedophobia

Meaning of denial

  1. noun An assertion of untruth.
  2. noun The negation in logic.
  3. noun A refusal or failure to provide or grant something that is requested or desired.

Full definition of denial

Questions about denial in a sentence

How do you use denial in a sentence?
Denial is used as a noun. For example: “The singer has issued a sweeping denial of all the rumors.”
What is a short sentence with denial?
“The denial of Jesus by Peter.”
What does denial mean?
Denial means an assertion of untruth.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: denial (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use denial in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/denial. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.