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Many English verbs begin with the prefix re-, meaning “again” or “backward,” so we wouldn’t criticize you for drawing a connection between rebuff and buff, a verb meaning “to polish or shine.” But rebuff would beg to differ: this word comes to us from the Middle French verb rebuffer, which traces back to the Old Italian ribuffare, meaning “to reprimand.” (Buff, in contrast, comes from the Middle French noun 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 “The proposal was met with a stern rebuff from the Board of Trustees.”
Examples of rebuff in a Sentence
Jen McCaffrey, New York Times, 2 Aug. 2025
Gross was previously the CEO of AI startup Safe Superintelligence, which Meta tried to buy before being rebuffed by co-founder Ilya Sutskever.
—Jonathan Vanian, CNBC, 29 July 2025
After his advances were rebuffed, Smith allegedly retaliated by orchestrating a significant demotion of the account handled by the accuser’s ad agency despite the company being one of the most competitive vendors due to its pricing.
—Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 21 July 2025
During his first administration, Trump almost repealed the health care law, but was famously rebuffed by Republican Arizona Senator John McCain voting against the administration.
—Andrew Stanton, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for rebuff
Cite this Entry
“Rebuff.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rebuff. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.
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