denying

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of deny.

   The spokesperson spent the morning denying rumors of a merger.

   Denying the allegations, the senator left without taking any questions.

   Note

   The -ing form does two jobs: it follows be in progressive tenses (she is denying everything), and it works as a verbal noun that still takes objects like a verb. Because deny can take two objects, so can denying: denying a team a goal, denying someone entry. Keep the object direct (denying the rumors) and you have the gerund. Add of (the denying of the rumors) and you have the plain noun.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act of refusing to admit or accept that something is true; a denial.

   Her repeated denying of any wrongdoing convinced no one on the jury.

   The witness's flat denying of all knowledge contradicted earlier testimony.

   Similardenial, disavowal, repudiation, refutation

   Oppositeadmission, acknowledgment, confession

   Note

   A countable noun in its own right, so it takes articles, possessives and a plural, denyings. That is what sets it apart from the gerund: her denyings piled up, but a verb form cannot be made plural. Denial covers the same ground and is interchangeable with it in most sentences.

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