refuse
Formsrefuses, refusing, refused
Formsrefuses, refusing, refused
- 1To say or show that one will not do, accept, or allow something; to decline a request, offer, or demand.
The committee refused her request for a deadline extension.
Many workers refuse requests to come in on their days off.
UsageUse refuse to + verb: they refused to leave (not
incorrect: refused leaving). To say a claim is untrue, use deny. - 2To withhold something from a person, such as entry, permission, or help, by not giving it to them or not letting them have it.
The judge refused the defendant bail.
Insurers sometimes refuse coverage to applicants with preexisting conditions.
UsageTwo patterns: refuse someone something (refused him bail), or refuse something to someone (refuse coverage to applicants).
- 3REF-yoos/ˈɹɛfjuːs/Items or material that have been discarded, considered collectively; trash or garbage.
Crews hauled tons of refuse from the flooded basements.
The refuse collection schedule changes during holiday weeks.
UsageStress the first syllable (REF-yoos), unlike the verb. Say a bag of refuse; often before nouns: refuse collection, refuse truck.
Less common meanings
- 4Discarded or rejected; cast off as unwanted or worthless.
UsageUsed before a noun: refuse lumber.
Note
A borrowed past participle: Middle French refusé meant simply "refused," and late Middle English took it over as an adjective for what had been rejected and cast off. The verb arrived separately, through Old French refuser, yet it is the same French verb behind both: only the route of borrowing differs.
- 5To refuse to acknowledge someone or something as one's own, and to cast it off.
Note
Shakespeare's Juliet uses it when she urges Romeo, "Refuse thy name." She is not asking him to turn down an offer. She wants him to cast off the name itself. The sense is obsolete, so a modern reader can easily misread the line. In present-day English, disown or renounce does this work.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Shakespeare's Juliet says “Refuse thy name” to Romeo. folger.edu
- Juliet wants Romeo to cast off his name. folger.edu
- The verb has an obsolete sense meaning to disown. en.wiktionary.org
- 6An act of declining or denying a request; a refusal.
Note
An old noun for the act of refusing, from the same French verb as the modern verb and long since replaced by refusal. Edward Fairfax's 1600 translation of Tasso's Godfrey of Bulloigne has Argantes "ready with a proud refuse" of an ally's offered help. It is spelled the same as the noun for rubbish, but that word comes from a borrowed past participle. In modern writing, use refusal.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
- Refuse is an obsolete noun meaning refusal. en.wiktionary.org
- The refusal noun and the modern verb share an origin in French refuser. en.wiktionary.org
- Edward Fairfax translated Tasso's work under the title Godfrey of Bulloigne. en.wikisource.org
- Fairfax's translation was first published in 1600. en.wikipedia.org
- The narrator describes Argantes as ready to refuse Solyman's offered help, but Aladine speaks before he can answer. gutenberg.org
- The identically spelled rubbish noun comes from a borrowed French past participle. en.wiktionary.org
- 7To fuse once more; to join or blend again by means of, or after, heating or melting.
- 8To hold back or angle a section of a battle line, such as the center, a wing, or a flank, out of the regular alignment as troops prepare to engage the enemy.
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Practice
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Origins
Middle French refuser ('to refuse') had the past participle refusé, and late Middle English took the word over from that form.
Old French refuser, which became Middle English refusen, goes back to Vulgar Latin *refūsāre. That form is explained either as a blend of Classical Latin refūtāre (source of 'refute') and recūsāre (source of 'recuse') or as built on refūsus, the past participle of refundere.