refuse

See also: refusé and re-fuse

English

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(key): /ˈɹɛfjuːs/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)

Adjective

refuse (comparative more refuse, superlative most refuse)

  1. Discarded, rejected.
    • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the page number)”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC:
      Upon the floor within, were piled up heaps of rusty keys, nails, chains, hinges, files, scales, weights, and refuse iron of all kinds.

Noun

refuse (uncountable)

  1. Collectively, items or material that have been discarded; rubbish, garbage.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English refusen, from Old French refuser, from Vulgar Latin *refūsāre, either from a blend of Classical Latin refūtāre (whence also refute) and recūsāre (whence also recuse) or from Latin refūsus, the perfect passive participle of refundere (“to pour back”, whence also refund).

Pronunciation

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To decline (a request or demand).
    My request for a pay rise was refused.
    • 1960 March, N. Caplan, “The Railway Member of Parliament”, in Railway Magazine, page 208:
      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.
  3. (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.
    • 1955 January, Charles E. Lee, “The Glasgow Underground Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 24:
      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.
    • 2018, Michael Cottakis – LSE, “Colliding worlds: Donald Trump and the European Union”, in LSE's blog‎[1], archived from the original on 31 August 2025:
      Trump has explicitly refused to deal with the European Commission, seeking instead to conduct bilateral relations with individual EU countries.
    • 2026 September 8, Ella Spitz, Kaleena Fraga, “Christopher Amoroso, The Port Authority Policeman Who Died Rescuing Others On 9/11”, in All That's Interesting‎[2], archived from the original on 9 September 2026:
      Though he was struck in the face by falling debris, he refused to get medical help, and instead led a number of people to safety from the lower levels of the towers.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:refuse.
  4. (ditransitive) To withhold (something) from (someone); to not give it to them or to bar them from having it.
    • 1991 December 15, Saadia Everett, “Protest Beatings”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 22, page 4:
      If we bang or scream they will spray us with some pepper or something else that's in an aeresol [sic] 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.
  5. (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
  6. (obsolete, transitive) To disown.
Usage notes
  • This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs.
Conjugation
Conjugation of refuse
infinitive (to) refuse
present tense past tense
1st-person singular refuse refused
2nd-person singular refuse, refusest† refused, refusedst†
3rd-person singular refuses, refuseth† refused
plural refuse
subjunctive refuse refused
imperative refuse —
participles refusing refused

† Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

refuse

  1. (obsolete) refusal

Etymology 3

Etymology tree
Proto-Italic *wre-
Latin re-
Old French re-bor.
Middle English re-
English re-
English fuse
English refuse

    From re- + fuse.

    Pronunciation

    • enPR: rēfyo͞ozʹ, IPA(key): /ɹiːˈfjuːz/
    • Rhymes: -uːz

    Verb

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

    1. To fuse again, as with, or after, heating or melting.
    Conjugation
    Conjugation of refuse
    infinitive (to) refuse
    present tense past tense
    1st-person singular refuse refused
    2nd-person singular
    3rd-person singular refuses
    plural refuse
    subjunctive refuse refused
    imperative refuse —
    participles refusing refused
    See also

    French

    Pronunciation

    Verb

    refuse

    1. inflection of refuser:
      1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
      2. second-person singular imperative

    Anagrams

    Galician

    Verb

    refuse

    1. inflection of refusar:
      1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
      2. third-person singular imperative

    Latin

    Pronunciation

    Participle

    refūse

    1. vocative masculine singular of refūsus

    References

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