Indulge Your Inner Word Nerd
rebuff was our Word of the Day on 09/20/2012. Hear the podcast!
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Examples of rebuff in a Sentence
Our suggestion was immediately rebuffed.
The company rebuffed the bid.
She rebuffed him when he asked her for a date.
Recent Examples of rebuff from the Web
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Her estate continues to fight for a portion of the Marshall estate on behalf of her daughter, despite having been rebuffed twice by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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After rebuffing Trump, Conway went to work running a Ted Cruz super PAC, Keep the Promise 1, which sought to raise money in support of the candidate, according to CNN.
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Lynch rebuffing with signs of disinterest in the interrogation.
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Socially conservative governors in Arkansas and Kentucky rebuffed proposals as unnecessary and South Dakota’s Republican governor vetoed a proposal in March.
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For example, we are subjected to seemingly everything Nolan knows about the Crimean War, like the fact that the efforts of Florence Nightingale, the pioneer of modern nursing, were at first rebuffed by some British officers.
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A judge rebuffed efforts to add Celia Fernandez and CFE to her brother’s prosecution.
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The proposal is a key effort of Emanuel, who has repeatedly been rebuffed in other efforts to wring funding out the state to help struggling Chicago Public Schools.
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The Clippers were left with the impression that the Knicks, who reportedly were rebuffed in their attempts to trade Anthony for Cleveland forward Kevin Love, are trying to see what value Anthony has around the league, one executive said.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'rebuff'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
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.) 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."
Origin and Etymology of rebuff
Middle French rebuffer, from Old Italian ribuffare to reprimand, from ribuffo reprimand
REBUFF Defined for English Language Learners
rebuff
playDefinition of rebuff for English Language Learners
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: to refuse (something, such as an offer or suggestion) in a rude way
REBUFF Defined for Kids
Definition of rebuff for Students
rebuffed
;rebuffing
: to refuse (something) in a sharp or rude way His suggestion was rebuffed.
Definition of rebuff for Students
: a sharp or rude refusal of something (as an offer)
Learn More about rebuff
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See words that rhyme with rebuff Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for rebuff Spanish Central: Translation of rebuff Nglish: Translation of rebuff for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of rebuff for Arabic speakers
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