Meanings
present singular third person refutes · participle present refuting · participle past refuted · past refuted · first person past singular refuted · archaic present second person singular refutest · past second person singular refuted · archaic past second person singular refutedst · present singular third person refutes · archaic present singular third person refuteth · past singular third person refuted · past plural refuted · past subjunctive refuted · participle present refuting · participle past refuted
- transitiveTo prove (something) to be false or incorrect.
1 more example
After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it, "I refute it thus."
1791, James Boswell, The life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.Synonyms: debunk, disprove, rebut, confound · Antonyms: confirm, affirm, demonstrate, prove
- proscribedtransitiveTo deny the truth or correctness of (something); to reject or disagree with an accusation.
A spokesperson for VARS Technology said: “We completely refute the suggestion that our market-leading ANPR system is unreliable".
2025 December 20, Taro Kaneko, “Family ‘banned from more than 1,000 petrol stations’ amid fuel theft row”, in The GuardianSynonyms: dispute, deny, repudiate, rebut, gainsay, counterargue, reject · Antonyms: affirm, accept, embrace, profess
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo prove (something) to be false or incorrect.
verbTo deny the truth or correctness of (something); to reject or disagree with an accusation.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinrefūtō“refute, repudiate”
- Englishrefute
From Latin refūtō (“refute, repudiate”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek εὐθύνω
- εὐθύνω (euthúnō)to prove (something) to be false or incorrect
Arabic دَحَضَ, أَدْحَضَ
- دَحَضَ (daḥaḍa)to prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- أَدْحَضَ (ʔadḥaḍa)to prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- فَنَّدَ (fannada)to prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- كَذَّبَ (kaḏḏaba)to deny the truth or correctness of (something)
Bulgarian опровергавам, отхвърлям
- опровергавам (oprovergavam)to prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- отхвърлям (othvărljam)to deny the truth or correctness of (something)
Catalan refutar
- refutarto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
Chinese Mandarin 反駁 /反驳
- 反駁 /反驳 (fǎnbó)to prove (something) to be false or incorrect
Czech vyvrátit, zavrhnout
- vyvrátitto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- zavrhnoutto deny the truth or correctness of (something)
- popřítto deny the truth or correctness of (something)
Dutch weerleggen, refuteren
- weerleggento prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- refuterento prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- weigerento deny the truth or correctness of (something)
Esperanto refuti, nei
- refutito prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- neito deny the truth or correctness of (something)
Finnish osoittaa vääräksi, kiistää
- osoittaa vääräksito prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- kiistääto deny the truth or correctness of (something)
- kieltääto deny the truth or correctness of (something)
French réfuter, rejeter
- réfuterto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- rejeterto deny the truth or correctness of (something)
- contesterto deny the truth or correctness of (something)
- chicanerto deny the truth or correctness of (something)
- récuserto deny the truth or correctness of (something)
German widerlegen, entkräften
- widerlegento prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- entkräftento prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- anfechtento deny the truth or correctness of (something)
- widersprechento deny the truth or correctness of (something)
Greek αντικρούω, ανασκευάζω
- αντικρούω (antikroúo)to prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- ανασκευάζω (anaskevázo)to prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- διαψεύδω (diapsévdo)to deny the truth or correctness of (something)
Hebrew הִפְרִיךְ
- הִפְרִיךְ (hifrikh)to prove (something) to be false or incorrect
Hindi दूषण
- दूषण (dūṣaṇ)to prove (something) to be false or incorrect
Hungarian cáfol, tagad
- cáfolto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- tagadto deny the truth or correctness of (something)
Italian smentire, smentire
- smentireto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- smentireto deny the truth or correctness of (something)
Japanese 言い返す, 反駁する
- 言い返す (iikaesu)to prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- 反駁する (hambaku suru)to prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- 言い返す (iikaesu)to deny the truth or correctness of (something)
- 反駁する (hambaku suru)to deny the truth or correctness of (something)
- 反証する (hanshō suru)to deny the truth or correctness of (something)
Latin refellō, refūtō
- refellōto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- refūtōto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- redarguōto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
Māori whākorekore, whawhati
- whākorekoreto deny the truth or correctness of (something)
- whawhatito deny the truth or correctness of (something)
Norwegian motbevise
- motbeviseto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
Portuguese refutar, desmentir
- refutarto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- desmentirto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- negarto deny the truth or correctness of (something)
Romanian refuta
- refutato prove (something) to be false or incorrect
Russian опроверга́ть, опрове́ргнуть
- опроверга́ть (oprovergátʹ)to prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- опрове́ргнуть (oprovérgnutʹ)to prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- отрица́ть (otricátʹ)to deny the truth or correctness of (something)
Spanish refutar, rebatir
- refutarto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- rebatirto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- negar la mayorto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- ripostarto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- impugnarto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- salir al paso deto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- negar rehusarto deny the truth or correctness of (something)
- rechazarto deny the truth or correctness of (something)
Swedish motbevisa, vederlägga
- motbevisato prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- vederläggato prove (something) to be false or incorrect
Turkish aksini ispatlamak, delilleri çürütmek
- aksini ispatlamakto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- delilleri çürütmekto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- yanlışlığını kanıtlamakto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
- karşı çıkmakto deny the truth or correctness of (something)
- reddetmekto deny the truth or correctness of (something)
Vietnamese bác bỏ
- bác bỏto prove (something) to be false or incorrect
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with refute
Anagrams
Cite this entry
refute. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/refute
“refute.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/refute. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “refute,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/refute.
Source: refute on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.