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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
Brittany Wallman, Miami Herald, 19 Apr. 2024
Under Oury's leadership, the men rebuffed an offer to surrender and fought their way out of the trap after nightfall while under heavy fire, according to an article published soon after the incident by the San Diego Herald, as preserved on SanDiegoHistory.org.
—The Arizona Republic, 11 Apr. 2024
Some Republicans have rebuffed Biden’s promise to pay the entire bridge cost with federal dollars, demanding that any funding be fully offset with spending cuts.
—Nik Popli, TIME, 5 Apr. 2024
One of those efforts, a meeting Biden campaign officials had planned in Michigan ahead of the primary, was rebuffed as local Arab American and Muslim leaders canceled.
—Justin Gomez, ABC News, 2 Apr. 2024
The Arab states rebuffed this approach, and since then, a lack of general oversight set in, letting UNRWA resist UN reforms and restructuring over the years.
—Jonathan Lincoln, Foreign Affairs, 29 Mar. 2024
The association says it's made numerous attempts to contact the bar's ownership to renew licensure, but those offers were all rebuffed.
—Quinlan Bentley, The Enquirer, 6 Mar. 2024
In a win for The Walt Disney Co. and CEO Bob Iger, Disney says that all of its director nominees have been elected by shareholders, rebuffing the activist investor Nelson Peltz, who had been running a high-profile campaign to put himself and former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo on the company’s board.
—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
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.
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Cite this Entry
“Rebuff.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rebuff. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.
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