REFUSAL Synonyms: 44 Similar and Opposite Words

refusal

noun

ri-ˈfyü-zəl

Definition of refusal next

as in rejection

an unwillingness to grant something asked for his flat refusal of our reasonable request was rather startling

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of refusal What struck me most in Satrapi’s rendering of the veil—and of Islam itself—was her refusal to settle for the literal or flattened stereotypes that so often populate Western narratives. —

Literary Hub, 18 June 2026 Moderna was blindsided by the refusal, which Prasad issued over the objections of FDA scientists and career officials. —

Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 18 June 2026 Part of what fascinated me about their presentation was not only their refusal to kowtow to male desire, which for decades had a stranglehold on rock aesthetics, but a concomitant disavowal of commercialism. —

Amanda Petrusich, New Yorker, 15 June 2026 How else to explain such relentlessness, such a refusal to stop even when most everyone would quit? —

Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 14 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for refusal

Recent Examples of Synonyms for refusal

Noun

This finding specifically held true for people with fearful and preoccupied attachment styles, two subtypes of insecure attachment associated with a craving for intimacy but, respectively, a deep fear of it or a fear of rejection and abandonment.

— Rachel Nuwer, Scientific American, 20 June 2026
Someone with anxious attachment may worry about rejection, seek excessive reassurance or feel uncertain about the stability of relationships.

— Katia Hetter, CNN Money, 20 June 2026