Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To prove to be false or erroneous; overthrow by argument or proof.
  • transitive verb To deny the accuracy or truth of.
  • transitive verb Usage Problem To repudiate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See refuit.
  • To disprove and overthrow by argument or countervailing proof; prove to be false or erroneous: as, to refute a doctrine or an accusation.
  • To overcome in argument; prove to be in error: as, to refute a disputant.
  • Synonyms Confute and Refute agree in representing a quick and thorough answer to assertions made by another. Confute applies to arguments, refute to both arguments and charges.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To disprove and overthrow by argument, evidence, or countervailing proof; to prove to be false or erroneous; to confute

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To prove (something) to be false or incorrect.
  • verb transitive To deny the truth or correctness of (something).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb prove to be false or incorrect
  • verb overthrow by argument, evidence, or proof

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin refūtāre; see bhau- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin refūtō

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word refute.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • prove to be false or incorrect

    No one could refute his theories or propositions, and that is why he was esteemed by all his colleagues in the philosophy department.

    October 19, 2016