DENY (denied)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: denied   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does deny mean? 

• DENY (verb)
  The verb DENY has 7 senses:

1. declare untrue; contradict

2. refuse to accept or believe

3. refuse to grant, as of a petition or request

4. refuse to let have

5. deny oneself (something); restrain, especially from indulging in some pleasure

6. deny formally (an allegation of fact by the opposing party) in a legal suit

7. refuse to recognize or acknowledge

  Familiarity information: DENY used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DENY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they deny    ... he / she / it denies   
Past simple: denied   
Past participle: denied   
-ing form: denying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Declare untrue; contradict

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

She denied that she had taken money

Hypernyms (to "deny" is one way to...):

contradict; contravene; negate (deny the truth of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deny"):

disclaim (make a disclaimer about)

repudiate (reject as untrue, unfounded, or unjust)

disavow (refuse to acknowledge; disclaim knowledge of; responsibility for, or association with)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They deny that there was a traffic accident

Antonym:

admit (declare to be true or admit the existence or reality or truth of)

Derivation:

denial (the act of asserting that something alleged is not true)

denier (one who denies)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Refuse to accept or believe

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

He denied his fatal illness

Hypernyms (to "deny" is one way to...):

disown; renounce; repudiate (cast off)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deny"):

abnegate (deny or renounce)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They deny that there was a traffic accident

Derivation:

denier (one who denies)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Refuse to grant, as of a petition or request

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Context example:

the prisoners were denied the right to exercise for more than 2 hours a day

Hypernyms (to "deny" is one way to...):

keep back; withhold (hold back; refuse to hand over or share)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody something

Derivation:

denial (the act of refusing to comply (as with a request))

denier (one who denies)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Refuse to let have

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

deny; refuse

Context example:

he denies her her weekly allowance

Hypernyms (to "deny" is one way to...):

hold on; keep (retain possession of)

Verb group:

abnegate; deny (deny oneself (something); restrain, especially from indulging in some pleasure)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deny"):

keep back; withhold (hold back; refuse to hand over or share)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody something

Sentence example:

They deny them the money

Antonym:

allow (let have)

Derivation:

denier (one who denies)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Deny oneself (something); restrain, especially from indulging in some pleasure

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

abnegate; deny

Context example:

She denied herself wine and spirits

Hypernyms (to "deny" is one way to...):

check; contain; control; curb; hold; hold in; moderate (lessen the intensity of; temper; hold in restraint; hold or keep within limits)

Verb group:

deny; refuse (refuse to let have)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody something

Derivation:

denial (renunciation of your own interests in favor of the interests of others)

denier (one who denies)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Deny formally (an allegation of fact by the opposing party) in a legal suit

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

deny; traverse

Domain category:

law; practice of law (the learned profession that is mastered by graduate study in a law school and that is responsible for the judicial system)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

denial (a defendant's answer or plea denying the truth of the charges against him)

denier (one who denies)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Refuse to recognize or acknowledge

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

Peter denied Jesus

Hypernyms (to "deny" is one way to...):

disavow (refuse to acknowledge; disclaim knowledge of; responsibility for, or association with)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

denier (one who denies)

 Context examples 

“You are a self-denying soul,” said my aunt, “and will have your reward.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Why should I deny myself the joy of exciting Leach’s soul to fever-pitch?

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He denied sleep, but admitted to having "dozed" for a while.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The last words were spoken so low she thought he did not hear them, but he did, and they wounded him deeply, for he had denied himself many pleasures for Meg's sake.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Here and there he could see one curled up in the snow like a dog, taking the sleep that was now denied himself.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Tremble lest in that case you should be numbered with those who have denied the faith, and are worse than infidels!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Once you discover the secret, the person who hid it may try to deny or obfuscate the truth, which would only work to compound the situation.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

But when he saw it he could not deny himself the pleasure of tasting it, so he cut of a little bit and put it into his mouth.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

An operation in which a term denies or inverts the meaning of another term or construction.

(Negation, NCI Thesaurus)

For now I could no longer deny that I was a real Yahoo in every limb and feature, since the females had a natural propensity to me, as one of their own species.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)