How to Use refuse in a Sentence

refuse

1 of 2 verb

• They asked her to help but she refused.
• When they offered me the money, I couldn't refuse.
• Speak up, show up, and refuse to stay silent.
  — Ann Bullock, The Orlando Sentinel, 27 Apr. 2026
• Joel refused, putting his life at risk.
  — Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times, 7 June 2026
• Daniels says the agents refused.
  — Alessandra Schade, Time, 14 Feb. 2026
• Bertuzzi refused to let the Hawks fall again.
  — Kalen Lumpkins, Chicago Tribune, 5 Jan. 2026
• But, her almost-5-year-old refused.
  — Vicki Glembocki, Parents, 28 Feb. 2026
• Now the bride says her mom is refusing to speak to her.
  — Ashley Vega, PEOPLE, 20 Sep. 2025
• The ones who refuse to answer are telling you something.
  — Jason Snyder, Forbes.com, 17 May 2026
• Banks refused to do business with him.
  — David D. Kirkpatrick, New Yorker, 30 Mar. 2026
• Arizona’s landscapes refuse to pick just one vibe.
  — Becky Bartkowski, AZCentral.com, 14 Feb. 2026
• Begel refused to stop showing up.
  — Sophie Carson, jsonline.com, 6 Mar. 2026
• Lebanon has a peace framework built around an armed group that refused to sign it.
  — Güney Yıldız, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026
• And the defense refused to yield.
  — Ira Gorawara, New York Times, 9 Nov. 2025
• My husband refuses to let his son move away with his ex.
  — R. Eric Thomas, Denver Post, 7 Mar. 2026
• What followed was a film that refuses to stay in the past.
  — Afdhel Aziz, Forbes.com, 18 May 2026
• But the Bruins refused to back down.
  — Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 14 Mar. 2026
• The union refused to sign, and Mailchimp pulled its business.
  — Ariel Shapiro, The Verge, 14 Dec. 2023
• At the eleventh hour the seller refused to sign any warranties.
  — Lien De Pau, Forbes.com, 31 Aug. 2025
• Vince tried to get Shane to slap her in a scene, but Shane refused.
  — Zach Helfand, New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2026
• Those who refuse them worry about being left behind.
  — Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2025
• But her sister has refused to accept that.
  — Ashley Vega, PEOPLE, 19 Oct. 2025
• Pulisic earlier this week refused to point to any one thing when asked about the drought.
  — Paul Tenorio, New York Times, 1 June 2026
• It is lit with joy, with purpose, with a fierce kind of love that refuses to dim.
  — Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 15 June 2026
• Neal refused to do that for the most part, which led to a fight that was not exciting.
  — Trent Reinsmith, Forbes, 18 Feb. 2024
• The artist refused, and that pavilion now stands empty.
  — Chloe Veltman, NPR, 9 May 2026
• However, your daughter doesn’t need to go along with this, and can refuse to move there.
  — Charlotte Phillipp, People.com, 31 Aug. 2025
• Mel Brooks and the late Robin Williams refused the award.
  — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 20 Mar. 2026
• That’s why some Catholics have refused to work with Big Tech.
  — Elias Wachtel, The Atlantic, 25 Apr. 2026
• Today, Evans has refused to let that time in her life define her.
  — Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 8 Mar. 2026

refuse

2 of 2 noun

• Can a business refuse service to someone who won’t wear a mask?
  — Hannah K. Sparling, The Enquirer, 8 July 2020
• Although the trail has been open for less than two weeks, the path is already littered with refuse.
  — Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, 15 Apr. 2023
• The best way to avoid those clogs is to close the sink drain during a shave, then wipe up the refuse and throw it in the trash.
  — Rachel Kurzius, Washington Post, 25 May 2023
• María’s alone, peering at other children at the top of a mountain of refuse.
  — Holly Jones, Variety, 17 Sep. 2022
• Until the program can be restarted, all the city’s refuse will be sent to landfills.
  — Anne Nickoloff, cleveland, 6 Aug. 2021
• Finally, keep an eye out for bags of leaves foolish people put on the curb for the refuse folks.
  — Jeff Lowenfels, Anchorage Daily News, 29 Apr. 2021
• Workers used brooms to sweep the street and sidewalk, and had large yellow trash cans for throwing out refuse.
  — Sean Cotter, BostonGlobe.com, 1 May 2023
• No refuse sticker will be needed to dispose of the trees during the program.
  — Beacon-News Staff, chicagotribune.com, 23 Dec. 2021
• Layers of refuse should be regularly covered over with a bed of soil.
  — Eric Boodman, STAT, 18 Apr. 2023
• But some of that refuse, the ghost recalls, found a second life in the hands of a woman named Cara.
  — Omari Weekes, The New York Review of Books, 19 Mar. 2026
• The only visible life was goats, pigs and a few people poking through the refuse.
  — Washington Post, 26 Nov. 2020
• The garbage trucks rumble along the quays picking up the refuse from the revelry the night before.
  — Elaine Sciolino, New York Times, 4 Nov. 2019
• Usually, this takes the form of a bigger bin or heap in the ground where your refuse can decompose.
  — Jakob Schiller, Outside Online, 1 Mar. 2020
• Customers who are asked to wear masks and refuse could be charged with criminal trespassing.
  — Cayla Harris, San Antonio Express-News, 18 May 2021
• Spawned when the body trashes old red blood cells, the molecule is harmful refuse and a sign of illness.
  — Bymitch Leslie, science.org, 8 June 2023
• Surely, there’s someplace nearby that can serve as the eternal resting spot for such refuse, right?
  — Bill Donahue, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Jan. 2023
• The home was hoarded, covered in refuse and infested with insects.
  — Ryan Murphy, IndyStar, 23 Sep. 2025
• Greig hadn’t exactly set out to run a hospice for the wretched refuse of the canine universe.
  — Susan Orlean, The New Yorker, 12 July 2022
• Garbage/refuse containers not covered as required.
  — Gege Reed, Louisville Courier Journal, 26 Sep. 2025
• The density of refuse reflects the number of people who’ve walked the route over the last decade – some of whom did not make it out.
  — Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, 15 Apr. 2023
• The school’s windows were shattered, and chunks of metal and other refuse littered a courtyard.
  — Michael Schwirtz, New York Times, 16 Sep. 2022
• Smells from the refuse regularly wafted through the campground.
  — Zak Podmore, The Salt Lake Tribune, 24 May 2021
• It’s often viewed as a dumping ground for human refuse — out of sight, out of mind — and it is structured to prevent prying eyes.
  — Gerard S. Williams, Sun Sentinel, 21 June 2026
• Transients often take shelter or sleep under the interstate there, which accounts for a large part of the refuse, the city said.
  — Andrew Canulette | Staff Writer, NOLA.com, 19 Aug. 2020
• But still, there are small joys to be snatched in those moments of coming together, a vision of something better amid the refuse.
  — New York Times, 3 May 2022
• Handling warm crap through a veneer of plastic is disgusting, but seeing the refuse of dozens of dogs melting out of the snow is worse.
  — Marc Peruzzi, Outside Online, 18 Mar. 2020
• It was eaten away by rats and cockroaches, but Lai saw the gold parts were still intact, glittering in the refuse.
  — Aja Gabel, Los Angeles Times, 22 Aug. 2022
• Proto-dogs, for example, would have dug through human trash heaps, and cats were attracted to the mice that gathered around refuse.
  — Marina Wang, Scientific American, 14 Nov. 2025
• The hinge slab pivots on the building side so that as the refuse settles, the grade beam sinks too, though without causing structural damage.
  — Dylan Taylor-Lehman, Popular Mechanics, 29 July 2021
• How are the refuse collectors to know the difference, and what kind of cockamamie way is this to run a recycling program?
  — Leila Atassi, cleveland, 21 June 2022