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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
Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 24 Oct. 2025
Handle the smaller requests by protecting your time, rather than rebuffing them individually.
—Judith Martin, Mercury News, 23 Oct. 2025
The break-up was also surprising because, not long before, Smiths had rebuffed calls from an activist investor, Engine Capital, to do just that.
—Ian King, CNBC, 22 Oct. 2025
David Ellison, son of billionaire Larry Ellison and CEO of Paramount, made the second offer after the bid for the entire company last month was rebuffed, the newspaper reported.
—Joshua Rhett Miller, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Oct. 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 30 Oct. 2025.
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