Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word refute. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word refute, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say refute in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word refute you have here. The definition of the word refute will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofrefute, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it, "I refute it thus."
The second meaning of refute(“to deny the truth of”) is proscribed as erroneous by some (compare Merriam Webster,1994). An alternative term with such a meaning is repudiate, which means to reject or refuse to acknowledge, but without the implication of justification. However, this distinction does not exist in the original Latin refūtō(“oppose, resist, rebut”), which can apply to both senses.
Refute is also often confused with rebut; a rebuttal, in formal debate terms, is a counter-refutation, and it also has a specific legal sense, though like refutation, the word has taken on the informal and disputed meaning of denial.
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