Synonyms for refute
Most common
Synonyms by meaning
Verb
1. Contradict — to deny the truth or correctness of (something); to reject or disagree with an accusation
contradict, deny, counter-argue, repudiate, gainsay formal, reject, dispute, dissent, impugn, oppose
2. Disprove — to prove (something) to be false or incorrect
disprove, rebut, debunk, confound, convince, overthrow, controvert, disverify, confute dated
Other
Definitions
- v. 1
To prove (something) to be false or incorrect.
- v. 2
To deny the truth or correctness of (something); to reject or disagree with an accusation.
Related words
- Word family
- refudiate refusal refuse refutability refutable refutal refutation refuter
Forms
- Past participle
- refuted
e.g. refuted → contradicted, denied, counter-argued, repudiated…
Choose the right word
To refute and to confute are to answer so as to admit of no reply. To refute a statement is to demonstrate its falsity by argument or countervailing proof; confute is substantially the same in meaning, tho differing in usage.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- deny You can't deny the fact that she had a hand in it.
- contradict Let our action never contradict what we have said.
- repudiate My parents would repudiate my brother if they ever found out he was gay.
- disprove All you need is one counterexample to disprove a theory.
- rebut The sheer volume of disinformation is difficult to rebut.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| refute | steady | |
| deny | steady | |
| contradict | rising | |
| repudiate | falling | |
| disprove | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- deny2
- 5 letters
- rebut2
- 6 letters
- answer2, reject2, oppose2, debunk2, impugn2
- 7 letters
- dispute2, dissent2, gainsay2, confute
- 8 letters
- convince2, disprove2, confound2
- 9 letters
- overthrow3, repudiate4, disverify
- 10 letters
- contradict3, controvert
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (deny2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- réfuter
- Español
- refutar
- Deutsch
- refutieren