Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A blunt or abrupt repulse or refusal, as to an offer.
- noun A check or an abrupt setback to progress or action.
- transitive verb To reject bluntly, often disdainfully; snub: synonym: refuse.
- transitive verb To repel or drive back.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To repel; make inflexible resistance to; check; put off with an abrupt and unexpected denial.
- Synonyms To repel, repulse, throw back. See
refuse . - noun A repelling; a repercussion.
- noun An interposed check; a defeat.
- noun A holding off or in check; repulsion, as of inquiry or solicitation; peremptory denial or refusal.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Repercussion, or beating back; a quick and sudden resistance.
- noun Sudden check; unexpected repulse; defeat; refusal; repellence; rejection of solicitation.
- transitive verb To beat back; to offer sudden resistance to; to check; to repel or repulse violently, harshly, or uncourteously.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A sudden
resistance orrefusal . - verb To
refuse ; to offer sudden or harshresistance ; toturn down or shut out. - verb To
buff again.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an instance of driving away or warding off
- verb reject outright and bluntly
- verb force or drive back
- noun a deliberate discourteous act (usually as an expression of anger or disapproval)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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At The National Post Blog Araminta Wordsworth quoted various sources and the reactions including The Nation Daily in Kenya which suggests that this rebuff is not unexpected:
Global Voices in English » Ghana: Global discussion of Obama’s visit to Ghana 2009
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But November -- the chill month with its "rebuff" -- will see both rabbits and magpies quite departed ....
Browning's Heroines Ethel Colburn Mayne
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Such a rebuff was a stunner to Mr. Davis, who, however, soon regained his serenity and answered:
Harrison, Mrs. Burton, 1843-1920. Recollections Grave and Gay 1911
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Such a rebuff was a stunner to the recipient of it, who soon regained his own serenity, however, and answered:
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But last night in Birmingham the opposition leader suffered what could only be described as a rebuff when conference delegates voted her the greatest Tory hero of all time.
Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk Martin Kettle 2008
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KING: Isn't there also a kind of rebuff against it, people who don't like the pontifical nature of it, the fact that you shall believe?
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KING: Isn't there also a kind of rebuff against it, people who don't like the pontifical nature of it, the fact that you shall believe?
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But she suddenly met a rebuff -- a kind of rebuff that she did not expect; for
Betty Vivian A Story of Haddo Court School L. T. Meade 1884
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Adeline was fabricating fearfully, that the "rebuff" was altogether an invention.
The Bostonians, Vol. II (of II) Henry James 1879
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"It is historically unprecedented for a first-term government to receive the kind of rebuff that the Rudd-Gillard government received yesterday," he told reporters in Sydney.
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