redargue

red·ar·gue
R1E1D2A1R1G2U1E1
UK/ɹɪˈdɑːɡjuː/US/ɹəˈdɑɹɡju/

verb

To disprove or refute (someone) in an argument.

Similar
counterargue
OriginMiddle English redarguen ← Middle French redarguer ← Old French redargüer →
Scrabble 10
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Meanings

verbredargue (third-person singular simple present redargues, present participle redarguing, simple past and past participle redargued)

present singular third person redargues · participle present redarguing · participle past redargued · past redargued

  1. transitiveobsolete except in Scots lawTo disprove or refute (someone) in an argument.

    Dia[ph Silkworm]. Sir, Ile redargue you, / By diſputation. / Com[passe]. O let's heare this! / I long to heare a man diſpute in his ſhirt / Of valour, and his ſvvord dravvne in his hand.

    1632 (first performance), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “The Magnetick Lady: Or, Humors Reconcil’d. A Comedy […]”, in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The Second Volume. […] (Second Folio), London: […] Richard Meighen, published 1640, →OCLC, Act III, scene vi, page 39

    Synonyms: counterargue

  2. transitiveobsolete except in Scots lawTo rebut or refute (an argument, a proposition, etc.).

    [T]he objections you mention, I humbly conceive, are ſuch as may be redargued, if not entirely removed— […]

    1771, [Tobias Smollett], “To Mr. Henry Davis, Bookseller, in London”, in The Expedition of Humphry Clinker […], volume I, London: […] W. Johnston, […]; and B. Collins, […], →OCLC, pages v–vi
    1 more example

    Nathaniel Carpenter [i.e., Nathanael Carpenter] late Fellow of Exceter Colledge in Oxford, in the ſecond booke and ſeventh chapter of his learned Geographicall concluſions, thus fully redargues that forgerie.

    1635, George Hakewill, “Touching Grammar, Rhetorique, Logicke, the Mathematiques, Philosophy, Architecture, the Arts of Painting and Navigation”, in An Apologie or Declaration of the Power and Providence of God in the Government of the World. […], 3rd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] William Turner […], →OCLC, book III, section 4 (Of the Art of Navigation, […]), page 310
  3. obsoletetransitiveOften followed by for or of: to censure, to rebuke, to reprove (someone or something).

    Wherefore, says he, the libel maun be redargued by the pannel proving her defences.

    [1818 July 25, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter XI, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 329
  4. obsoleteraretransitiveTo argue (a case, proposition, etc.) against someone.
  5. intransitiveobsoleteTo present a disproof or refutation of an argument, a person, etc.

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo disprove or refute (someone) in an argument.

Similar
counterargue
Also see
counterargue

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂erǵ-“argent, white; glittering”
  2. Latinredarguere“to disprove, refute”
  3. Old Frenchredargüer“to disprove, refute; to accuse, blame; to rebuke, reprove”
  4. Middle Frenchredarguer
  5. Middle Englishredarguen
  6. Englishredargue

From Late Middle English redarguen, redargue (“to defeat (someone) in an argument; to rebuke, reprove”), from Middle French redarguer and Old French redargüer (“to disprove, refute; to accuse, blame; to rebuke, reprove”) (modern French rédarguer), and from their etymon Latin redarguere (“to disprove, refute”) (compare Late Latin redarguere (“to rebuke, reprove”)), the present active infinitive of redarguō (“to disprove, refute; to contradict”), from red- (a variant of re- (prefix meaning ‘again’)) + arguō (“to assert, declare; to clarify, make plain; to prove, show; to accuse, charge with; to censure, rebuke, reprove; to blame; to denounce as false”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erǵ- (“argent, white; glittering”), in the sense of casting light on something to make it clear). Doublet of argue. Cognates * Catalan redargüir * Italian redarguire * Old Occitan redarguir * Portuguese redargüir * Spanish redargüir

More words from Middle English, Middle French, Old French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

redargue. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/redargue

MLA

“redargue.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/redargue. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “redargue,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/redargue.

Source: redargue on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.