Refuse

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /ˈɹɛfjuːs/

Definitions

1. To decline or reject something offered, proposed, or requested
2. To express an unwillingness to accept, agree to, or comply with something given, suggested, or asked for
3. To demonstrate rejection by not accepting, agreeing to, or complying with an offer, proposal, or request

Etymology: The verb "refuse" has a tangled ancestry, and English already had a native word for the same idea that it nearly replaced. Middle English speakers said "wernen," meaning "to refuse," but "refuse" arrived from Old French and gradually displaced it. Part of the reason may be that "wernen" sounded much like "warnen," meaning "to warn," and the confusion was unhelpful. The French source, "refuser," traces back to a Vulgar Latin form, "*refūsāre," which scholars believe came from a blend of two Classical Latin verbs. One was "refūtāre," the source of "refute," meaning to disprove. The other was "recūsāre," the source of "recuse," meaning to reject or excuse oneself. Another possibility is the Latin "refūsus," the past participle of "refundere," meaning "to pour back," which is also the source of "refund." Scholars are not certain which of these paths is correct, so the word's exact route remains open to debate. In English, the word appears in late Middle English, borrowed from the French past participle "refusé." Its visible parts are the prefix "re-," meaning "back" or "again," and the verb "fuse," which is an unrelated English word, so the modern "refuse" is itself a "refuse" of the older "fuse" pattern.

Synonyms: reject, decline, disallow

Antonyms: accept, allow, approve