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Occurring frequently in news articles and headlines, rebuff derives (via Middle French rebuffer) from Old Italian ribuffare, meaning "to reprimand," and ultimately from the imitative verb buffare, meaning "to puff." (You might guess that the verb buff, meaning "to polish," is a buffare descendant, but it is actually unrelated. It is derived from Middle French buffle, meaning "wild ox.") A similar word, rebuke, shares the "criticize" sense of rebuff, but not the "reject" sense (one can rebuke another's actions or policies, but one does not rebuke the advances of another, for example). Like rebuke, rebuff can also be used as a noun, as in "His proposal was met with a stern rebuff from the Board of Trustees."
Examples of rebuff in a Sentence
Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Apr. 2024
In a speech punctuated by three standing ovations, Israel Bachar, the country's counsel general for the Pacific Southwest, refuted reports of starvation in Gaza and rebuffed calls for a ceasefire unless Hamas meets certain conditions.
—Mary Jo Pitzl, The Arizona Republic, 3 Apr. 2024
That came after Apollo had offered $11 billion to buy Paramount Pictures alone, a bid that was also rebuffed by Paramount’s committee.
—Todd Spangler, Variety, 3 Apr. 2024
Biden administration officials have repeatedly defended their approach to the border while saying Congress should do more to help, rebuffing conservative criticism amid what polling shows is low public approval for the president on the issue.
—Soo Rin Kim, ABC News, 2 Apr. 2024
Netanyahu has dug in his heels and recently rebuffed requests from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to reconsider a looming military offensive on Rafah.
—Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 25 Mar. 2024
Defense experts have argued that the journal excerpt also helps rebuff the prosecution's claim that the dad gifted the boy a gun, arguing that if the gun was really the boy's, then why did his dad have to hide it?
—Gina Kaufman, Detroit Free Press, 12 Mar. 2024
And unfortunately, the Biden administration, for the most part, has been rebuffed.
—Joe Davidson, Washington Post, 29 Mar. 2024
And The Times’ efforts to talk with their ski patrollers, who usually are the first responders to accidents on the slopes, were rebuffed.
—Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times, 22 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rebuff.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near rebuff
Cite this Entry
“Rebuff.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rebuff. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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