lexicow

refuse

/rɪˈfjuːz//rɪˈfjuːz/·verb
From the gallery I watch the plea go up to the bench — let me off. The judge in his wig barely reads it; he sets his pen to the paper and draws his answer straight across the page, a flat red no printed where a yes was hoped for. The request was laid before the court, and the court would not take it.
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Definition

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.

Examples

  • She refused the promotion because it meant leaving the laboratory.
  • If both sides refuse to compromise, the negotiation will collapse.
  • The old engine simply refused to start in the cold.

Collocations

refuse an offer·refuse to accept·flatly refuse·refuse point-blank·refuse outright

Synonyms

decline·reject·rebuff·spurn·turn down

Antonyms

accept·agree·consent

See also

Word family

refusal (noun)

In TOEFL & 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 unrelated noun meaning rubbish is /ˈrefjuːs/.