REBUFF

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does rebuff mean? 

• REBUFF (noun)
  The noun REBUFF has 2 senses:

1. a deliberate discourteous act (usually as an expression of anger or disapproval)

2. an instance of driving away or warding off

  Familiarity information: REBUFF used as a noun is rare.

• REBUFF (verb)
  The verb REBUFF has 2 senses:

1. reject outright and bluntly

2. force or drive back

  Familiarity information: REBUFF used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REBUFF (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A deliberate discourteous act (usually as an expression of anger or disapproval)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

rebuff; slight

Hypernyms ("rebuff" is a kind of...):

discourtesy; offence; offense; offensive activity (a lack of politeness; a failure to show regard for others; wounding the feelings or others)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rebuff"):

cold shoulder; cut; snub (a refusal to recognize someone you know)

silent treatment (an aloof refusal to speak to someone you know)

Derivation:

rebuff (reject outright and bluntly)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An instance of driving away or warding off

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

rebuff; repulse; snub

Hypernyms ("rebuff" is a kind of...):

rejection (the speech act of rejecting)

Derivation:

rebuff (force or drive back)

• REBUFF (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they rebuff    ... he / she / it rebuffs   
Past simple: rebuffed   
Past participle: rebuffed   
-ing form: rebuffing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Reject outright and bluntly

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

rebuff; repel; snub

Context example:

She snubbed his proposal

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

disdain; freeze off; pooh-pooh; reject; scorn; spurn; turn down (reject with contempt)

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

rebuff (a deliberate discourteous act (usually as an expression of anger or disapproval))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Force or drive back

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

drive back; fight off; rebuff; repel; repulse

Context example:

rebuff the attack

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

defend; fight; fight back; fight down; oppose (fight against or resist strongly)

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

rebuff (an instance of driving away or warding off)

 Context examples 

It was not in his nature to give rebuff.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Since my rebuff of yesterday I have a sort of empty feeling; nothing in the world seems of sufficient importance to be worth the doing....

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I have seen him wringing his hands after such a rebuff, and I am sure the annoyance and the terror he lived in must have greatly hastened his early and unhappy death.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

He was plainly expectant of a rebuff, and he was just as plainly surprised when her teeth did not flash out at him in anger.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Annoyed at the churlish rebuff, I turned my back and walked home.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

All eyes met her with a glance of eager curiosity, and she met all eyes with one of rebuff and coldness; she looked neither flurried nor merry: she walked stiffly to her seat, and took it in silence.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He paused and I said:—But will not the Count take his rebuff wisely?

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Once, it entered his mind that there was a deliberate rebuff in all this.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Silver, I should say, was allowed his entire liberty, and in spite of daily rebuffs, seemed to regard himself once more as quite a privileged and friendly dependent.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I almost expected a rebuff for this hardly well-timed question, but, on the contrary, waking out of his scowling abstraction, he turned his eyes towards me, and the shade seemed to clear off his brow.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)