Meanings
present singular third person rebuts · participle present rebutting · participle past rebutted · past rebutted
- To drive back or beat back; to repulse.
Who him r'encountring fierce, as hauke in flight, / Perforce rebutted backe.
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 53 - To deny the truth of something, especially by presenting arguments that disprove it.
Rebutting allegations that Scotland's railways had been deliberately run down, he pointed out that in the past nine years over £70m had been spent on their development.
1964 June, “News and Comment: Reprieve in the Far North”, in Modern Railways, page 373
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Frenchreboter
- Middle Englishrebutten
- Englishrebut
Inherited from Middle English rebutten, rebouten, from Old French reboter, rebuter, rebouter, etc., from re- + boter, buter, bouter (“to butt”). Entered English around 1302-1307.
More words from Middle English, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian отхвърлям, отричам
- отхвърлям (othvărljam)drive back or beat back; to repulse
- отричам (otričam)deny the truth of something
Catalan rebutjar, refutar
- rebutjardrive back or beat back; to repulse
- refutardeny the truth of something
Czech rozporovat, vyvrátit
- rozporovatdeny the truth of something
- vyvrátitdeny the truth of something
- vyvracetdeny the truth of something
- odrazitdeny the truth of something
Dutch afstoten, weerleggen
- afstotendrive back or beat back; to repulse
- weerleggendeny the truth of something
Finnish torjua
- torjuadrive back or beat back; to repulse
French réfuter
- réfuterdeny the truth of something
Greek αντικρούω, ανασκευάζω
- αντικρούω (antikroúo)deny the truth of something
- ανασκευάζω (anaskevázo)deny the truth of something
Irish bréagnaigh, diúltaigh do
- bréagnaighdeny the truth of something
- diúltaigh dodeny the truth of something
Italian confutare
- confutaredeny the truth of something
Japanese 反証, 反駁
- 反証 (hanshou)deny the truth of something
- 反駁 (hanbaku)deny the truth of something
Latin refellō
- refellōdeny the truth of something
Māori taiari, taieri
- taiaridrive back or beat back; to repulse
- taieridrive back or beat back; to repulse
- whakahoredeny the truth of something
- whakatitodeny the truth of something
- whawhatideny the truth of something
- whakakoredeny the truth of something
- whakaparaudeny the truth of something
Persian تکذیب کردن
- تکذیب کردن (takzib kardan)deny the truth of something
Polish odrzucać, obalać
- odrzucaćdrive back or beat back; to repulse
- obalaćdeny the truth of something
Portuguese ilidir
- ilidirdeny the truth of something
Spanish rebatir, impugnar
- rebatirdeny the truth of something
- impugnardeny the truth of something
Swedish vederlägga
- vederläggadeny the truth of something
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with rebut
Anagrams
Cite this entry
rebut. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rebut
“rebut.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rebut. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rebut,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rebut.
Source: rebut on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.