refuted; refuting
Synonyms
Examples of refute in a Sentence
But for every study that shows acid rain is damaging frogs, another one refutes it.
—
Emily Yoffe, New York Times Magazine, 13 Dec. 1992
And it violates the basic tenet of historical method: that the historian be alert to the negative instances that would refute his thesis and to alternative explanations that would be more plausible than his own.
—Gertrude Himmelfarb, The New History and the Old, 1987
It is not necessary to refute such an argument point by point …
—Denis Goulet, Center Magazine, May 1969
We refute these aspersions whether they come from our best friends or our worst foes.
—Sir Winston Churchill, address in House of Commons, 18 Jan. 1945,
in Nathan Aus, ed., Voices of History 1945–46, 1946
The lawyer refuted the testimony of the witness.
He refutes the notion that he's planning to retire soon.
She refuted the allegations against her.
Emily Yoffe, New York Times Magazine, 13 Dec. 1992
And it violates the basic tenet of historical method: that the historian be alert to the negative instances that would refute his thesis and to alternative explanations that would be more plausible than his own.
—Gertrude Himmelfarb, The New History and the Old, 1987
It is not necessary to refute such an argument point by point …
—Denis Goulet, Center Magazine, May 1969
We refute these aspersions whether they come from our best friends or our worst foes.
—Sir Winston Churchill, address in House of Commons, 18 Jan. 1945,
in Nathan Aus, ed., Voices of History 1945–46, 1946
The lawyer refuted the testimony of the witness.
He refutes the notion that he's planning to retire soon.
She refuted the allegations against her.
Recent Examples on the Web
And while DeWine refuted the claim to CBS News last week, the governor acknowledged that there are challenges that come with 15,000 immigrants settling in a city with a population of just under 60,000 in the last couple of years — like health care systems being overloaded.
—Kaia Hubbard, CBS News, 15 Sep. 2024
Within three seconds the chatbot provided a paragraph clearly refuting each of those points.
—Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 12 Sep. 2024
Background actress Rayna Menz, who appears in the footage, refuted the claims against Coppola in an Instagram message.
—Lawrence Yee, Peoplemag, 12 Sep. 2024
During the debate, Trump repeated a viral claim, refuted earlier in the day by officials in the Ohio Springfield, that undocumented Haitian immigrants there have been eating local pets.
—Leslie Katz, Forbes, 11 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for refute 
Kaia Hubbard, CBS News, 15 Sep. 2024
Within three seconds the chatbot provided a paragraph clearly refuting each of those points.
—Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 12 Sep. 2024
Background actress Rayna Menz, who appears in the footage, refuted the claims against Coppola in an Instagram message.
—Lawrence Yee, Peoplemag, 12 Sep. 2024
During the debate, Trump repeated a viral claim, refuted earlier in the day by officials in the Ohio Springfield, that undocumented Haitian immigrants there have been eating local pets.
—Leslie Katz, Forbes, 11 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for refute
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'refute.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Refute.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/refute. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
refute
verb
re·fute
ri-ˈfyüt 
refuted; refuting
: to prove wrong by argument or evidence : show to be false
refute the testimony of a witness
refuter
noun
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