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refuse

/rɪˈfjuːz//rɪˈfjuːz/·verb
to say that you will not accept or do something that is offered or asked of you
Fig. 1 — From the gallery I watch the plea go up to the bench — let me off.
01Definition

To refuse is to turn down what is put in front of you — an offer, an invitation, a request to act: you refuse a gift, refuse help, refuse to sign. The focus points inward, at the thing arriving, which goes back the way it came, untaken. From Latin refundere, 'to pour back'. It runs close to deny and withhold, but where those keep back what another wants, refuse rejects what is held out to you. The noun is refusal.

02In use
  • iShe refused the promotion because it meant leaving the laboratory.
  • iiIf both sides refuse to compromise, the negotiation will collapse.
  • iiiThe old engine simply refused to start in the cold.
03Collocations
  • refuse an offer
  • refuse to accept
  • flatly refuse
  • refuse point-blank
  • refuse outright

Family refusal (noun)

04Relations

=decline, reject, rebuff, spurn, turn down

≠accept, agree, consent

05Compared
PairThe difference
refuse vs denyyou refuse TO DO something; you deny SOMEONE something (or deny that it is true).
refuse vs refutedecline what is offered or asked → refuse; disprove a claim with evidence → refute.
06TOEFL & IELTS

Refuse takes two patterns: 'refuse something' (refuse an offer) and 'refuse to do something' (refuse to sign) — never 'refuse doing'. In TOEFL/IELTS keep it apart from deny: you refuse what is offered to you, but you deny someone the thing they ask of you. The adverbs 'flatly/point-blank refuse' read well in writing about conflict. Mind the stress shift: the verb is refuse /rɪˈfjuːz/, while the separate noun meaning rubbish (historically 'what is refused') is /ˈrefjuːs/.

07Asked
Why is refuse also the word for rubbish?
Because rubbish is, literally, what has been refused. The noun — refuse collection, household refuse — grew from the old sense 'that which is rejected': the matter turned away. It split from the verb in sound as well as sense: the noun is REF-yoos, stress up front and a soft s, while the verb is re-FYOOZ. One spelling, two words, and the bin lorry carries the older idea.
What's the difference between refuse, decline, and reject?
Temperature. Decline is the polite low end — you decline invitations, softly and often with thanks. Refuse is firm and unadorned: the offer goes back untaken, no cushioning implied. Reject is judgment delivered — something was examined and found wanting: rejected applications, rejected manuscripts. You can decline a meeting, refuse a bribe, and reject a theory; swapping them changes the scene.
Is it 'refuse to do' or 'refuse doing'?
Refuse to do, always — the verb takes the to-infinitive and never the gerund: she refused to sign. It also takes a plain object (refuse an offer) and, less noticed, two objects: they refused him entry, the bank refused her a loan — a give-verb pattern run in reverse. That double-object frame is standard but less common than the same pattern with deny, and the one learners rarely meet.
Is refusing the same as denying?
No — you refuse what is held out to you, but you deny someone the thing they ask of you; the full split is on the deny vs refuse page in the 'Compared' list above.
What does 'refuse point-blank' mean?
To refuse flatly, instantly, and without softening — the phrase borrows point-blank from shooting at zero distance: no arc, no room to miss. A point-blank refusal offers no reasons and invites no negotiation. The scene above answers in exactly that register: one flat stroke of the judge's pen across the plea, and nothing else on the page.