REFUTE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does refute mean? 

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

1. overthrow by argument, evidence, or proof

2. prove to be false or incorrect

  Familiarity information: REFUTE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REFUTE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they refute    ... he / she / it refutes   
Past simple: refuted   
Past participle: refuted   
-ing form: refuting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Overthrow by argument, evidence, or proof

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

rebut; refute

Context example:

The speaker refuted his opponent's arguments

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

disown; renounce; repudiate (cast off)

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

contradict; controvert; oppose (be resistant to)

answer (give a defence or refutation of (a charge) or in (an argument))

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

refutation (any evidence that helps to establish the falsity of something)

refutation (the speech act of answering an attack on your assertions)

refuter (a debater who refutes or disproves by offering contrary evidence or argument)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Prove to be false or incorrect

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

controvert; rebut; refute

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

confute; disprove (prove to be false)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

refutation (the act of determining that something is false)

refutation (any evidence that helps to establish the falsity of something)

refuter (a debater who refutes or disproves by offering contrary evidence or argument)

 Context examples 

With respect to that other, more weighty accusation, of having injured Mr. Wickham, I can only refute it by laying before you the whole of his connection with my family.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

He was astonished, indeed, but his character and general conduct must refute it.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

There is little evidence available to support or refute these sayings, so, to put an end to this uncertainty, researchers at Witten/Herdecke University in Germany and the University of Cambridge in the UK evaluated scientifically whether or not this time-honoured wisdom truly reduces a hangover burden.

(Wine before beer, or beer before wine? Either way, you’ll be hungover, University of Cambridge)

Why she did not like Jane Fairfax might be a difficult question to answer; Mr. Knightley had once told her it was because she saw in her the really accomplished young woman, which she wanted to be thought herself; and though the accusation had been eagerly refuted at the time, there were moments of self-examination in which her conscience could not quite acquit her.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)