refuse

noun

Collectively, items or material that have been discarded; rubbish, garbage.

(obsolete) refusal

verb

(transitive) To decline (a request or demand).

(intransitive) To decline a request or demand, forbear; to withhold permission.

(ditransitive) To withhold (something) from (someone); to not give it to them or to bar them from having it.

(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 fuse again, as with, or after, heating or melting.

(obsolete, transitive) To disown.

adjective

Discarded, rejected.

Roots

rere- · Latin · back fundo-fus · Latin · pour

Synonyms for refuse

rejectv denyv garbagen spurnv repudiatev declinen scrapsn renouncev disclaimv rebuffn disownv disallowv waivev withholdv abjurev

Synonyms & related words for refuse

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of refuse — including reject, deny, garbage, spurn, repudiate, decline. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to refuse

Explore words related to refuse — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include defy, resist, refusal, accept, discards, garbology, unwilling, abnegate. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for refuse

Common synonyms for refuse include reject, deny, garbage, spurn, repudiate, decline, scraps, renounce — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does refuse come from?

The word refuse breaks down into 2 roots of Latin origin: re-, from Latin re (“back”); and -fus, from Latin fundo (“pour”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.