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''refuse'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''refuse'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260130210911-00-⌔

refuse - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

refuse (comparative more refuse, superlative most refuse)

  • Discarded, rejected.

Noun

refuse (uncountable)

  • Collectively, items or material that have been discarded; rubbish, garbage.

Verb

refuse (third-person singular simple present refuses, present participle refusing, simple past and past participle refused)

  • (transitive) To decline (a request or demand).
    • ✤ My request for a pay rise was refused.
    • ✤ After the death of his [Verney’s] first wife, he proposed to Florence Nightingale but she refused him. Later he married her sister, and for many years Claydon was Miss Nightingale’s second home.1
  • (intransitive) To decline a request or demand, forbear; to withhold permission.
    • ✤ I refuse to listen to this nonsense any more.
    • ✤ I asked the star if I could have her autograph, but she refused.
    • ✤ If ye refuse […] ye shall be devoured with the sword.2
    • ✤ The U. N. sent a commission to arrange for election of a Korean government. Russia and her satellites declined to cooperate with this Commission. Russia refused to let the Commission hold an election in north Korea, or even to enter north Korea. In southern Korea Leftist parties refused to meet with the Commission.3
    • ✤ Eventually, the railway opened on Monday, December 14, 1896, with a universal fare of 1d. collected at the turnstiles, and conditions were immediately chaotic, as many passengers travelled round and round, and refused to leave the cars.4
    • ✤ City were outclassed thereafter and Roberto Mancini said that substitute Carlos Tevez refused to play.5
    • ✤ Trump has explicitly refused to deal with the European Commission, seeking instead to conduct bilateral relations with individual EU countries.6
    • ✤ My thoughts are disturbed by a man and pooch trying to get off the front of the train. Despite hitting the door button, they refused to open.7
  • (ditransitive) To withhold (something) from (someone); to not give it to them or to bar them from having it.
    • ✤ If we bang or scream they will spray us with some pepper or something else that’s in an aeresol can, and they wear gas masks, while the rest of us have to breathe the fumes in, and it makes us very sick and they refuse us medical treatment.8
  • (military) To throw back, or cause to keep back (as the centre, a wing, or a flank), out of the regular alignment when troops are about to engage the enemy.
    • ✤ to refuse the right wing while the left wing attacks
  • (obsolete, transitive) To disown.
    • ✤ * Refuse thy name.*9

Noun

refuse

  • (obsolete) refusal
    • ✤ This ſpoken, readie with a proud refuſe […]10

Verb

refuse (third-person singular simple present refuses, present participle refusing, simple past and past participle refused)

  • To fuse again, as with, or after, heating or melting.

Etymology 1

Borrowed into late Middle English from Middle French refusé, past participle of refuser (“to refuse”). Displaced native Middle English wernen (“to refuse”) likely due to the similar sounding Middle English warnen

Pronunciation

  • enPR: rĕfʹyo͞os, IPA: /ˈɹɛfjuːs/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊

Etymology 2

From Middle English refusen, from Old French refuser, from Vulgar Latin ﹡refūsāre, a blend of Classical Latin refūtāre (whence also refute) and recūsāre (whence also recuse).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: rĭfyo͞ozʹ
    • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ɹɪˈfjuːz/
      • Audio (London): 🔊
    • (General American, Canada) IPA: /ɹɪˈfjuz/
      • Audio (California): 🔊
    • (Australian) IPA: /ɹɪˈfjʉːz/
    • (New Zealand) IPA: /ɹəˈfjʉːz/
  • Rhymes: -uːz

Etymology 3

From re- + fuse.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: rēfyo͞ozʹ, IPA: /ɹiːˈfjuːz/
  • Rhymes: -uːz

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1960 March, N. Caplan, “The Railway Member of Parliament”, in Railway Magazine, page 208: ↩

  2. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 1:20: ↩

  3. 1948 March 1, “Duel in Korea”, in World Week, volume 12, number 5, Scholastic Corporation, page 10, column 2: ↩

  4. 1955 January, Charles E. Lee, “The Glasgow Underground Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 24: ↩

  5. 2011 September 27, Alistair Magowan, “Bayern Munich 2 - 0 Man City”, in BBC Sport ‎: ↩

  6. 2018, Michael Cottakis – LSE, “Colliding worlds: Donald Trump and the European Union”, in LSE’s blog ‎: ↩

  7. 2022 November 2, Paul Bigland, “New trains, old trains, and splendid scenery”, in RAIL, number 969, page 58: ↩

  8. 1991 December 15, Saadia Everett, “Protest Beatings”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 22, page 4: ↩

  9. c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]: ↩

  10. 1600, [Torquato Tasso], “The Twelfth Booke of Godfrey of Bulloigne”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC, stanza 13, page 215: ↩

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