How to use rebuff in a sentence

12 example sentences · noun, verb

Rebuff means a sudden resistance or refusal. Example: “He was surprised by her quick rebuff to his proposal.”

Examples of rebuff by meaning

nounA sudden resistance or refusal.

He was surprised by her quick rebuff to his proposal.
His administration’s blunt rebuff of a plea by his ally and Michigan’s Democratic Gov.2021 April 13, Stephen Collinson, “Michigan vaccine rebuff puts Biden and a top ally in a dicey political spot”, in CNN, archived from the...

verbTo refuse; to offer sudden or harsh resistance; to turn down or shut out.

Lawyers for CBS News are rebuffing a legal threat from Donald Trump over the network’s “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, telling the former president his demands are based on a “faulty premise.”2024 October 23, Brian Stelter, “CBS News rebuffs Trump’s legal threat over ‘60 Minutes’ interview”, in CNN, archived from the original on...

More sentences with rebuff

Drivers' union ASLEF bluntly rebuffed the claim of unofficial action, calling it a lie.2022 August 24, Philip Haigh, “Network News: Union slams Avanti West Coast: 'lie' as services slashed”, in RAIL, number 964, page 6. From the entry assertion
To be sure, Trump has fulminated on Twitter against the judges who rebuffed him.2017 February 15, Peter Beinart, “American Institutions Are Fighting Back Against Trump”, in The Atlantic. From the entry fulminate
Back in Thailand, meantime, the CIA felt relatively little heartburn over the congressional rebuff.2013, Kenneth Conboy, The Cambodian Wars, →ISBN, page 268. From the entry heartburn
The North Face of the Eiger is notoriously fickle, frequently rebuffing the world’s most experienced climbers with stonefall, storms and avalanches.2007 August 4, Stephen Venables, “In the Alps, a Conquest Takes Two Generations”, in New York Times. From the entry stonefall
Almost from her arrival she is pursued by a bellhop who interprets her every rebuff as a coy invitation.1965 June 3, Eliot Fremont-Smith, “Books: A way back to life [review of August Is a Wicked Month (1965) by Edna O’Brien]”, in The New York…. From the entry comedy of errors
Despite the family's attempts to rebuff her, Rosie kept popping up, buzzing at the margins of the family's life like an unslappable mosquito.2020, Rachel Monroe, Savage Appetites: True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession, New York, NY: Scribner, →ISBN, page 76. From the entry unslappable
And as a few strokes on the nose will make a puppy head shy, so a few rebuffs will make a boy shy all over.1952, John Steinbeck, East of Eden, →LCCN, →OL. From the entry head shy
Sneijder showed some ankle last week with a veiled ‘come and get me’ plea that was promptly rebuffed by David Gill stating that the deal probably won’t go ahead now.2011 August 12, “Football & Sport: Manchester United: A Comparison of Sneijder, Cantona, Scholes And Ronaldo”, in Sabotage Times, UK…. From the entry show ankle
However, since the mandarins have articulated whaling as an issue involving preservation of cultural diversity and a nationalistic rebuff to US ecoimperialism, the prospects for reconciliation and compromise are remote.2004, Jeff Kingston, Japan's Quiet Transformation. From the entry ecoimperialism

Meaning of rebuff

noun A sudden resistance or refusal.
noun Repercussion, or beating back.
verb To refuse; to offer sudden or harsh resistance; to turn down or shut out.

Full definition of rebuff

Questions about rebuff in a sentence

How do you use rebuff in a sentence?: Rebuff is used as a noun and verb. For example: “He was surprised by her quick rebuff to his proposal.”
What is a short sentence with rebuff?: “He was surprised by her quick rebuff to his proposal.”
What does rebuff mean?: Rebuff means a sudden resistance or refusal.

Adapted from Wiktionary: rebuff (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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