as in refused
to show unwillingness to accept, do, engage in, or agree to
I'm afraid that I will have to turn down your invitation
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Recent Examples of turned down
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not in Egypt, having turned down an invitation by the White House to attend a large gathering of Middle Eastern, European and Asian leaders.
—
The Hill, 13 Oct. 2025
Campbell has turned down a lot of interest from other jobs, but Penn State is a different level of job, especially for an Ohio native who began his playing career at Pitt.
—Chris Vannini, New York Times, 12 Oct. 2025
But the then-burgeoning actor, 45, turned down the part.
—Bailey Richards, PEOPLE, 11 Oct. 2025
Instead, Laura is on the rocks with her current boyfriend, Judah, who recently turned down a job in New York to stay with her in England.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Oct. 2025
Netanyahu, meanwhile, stands accused of having repeatedly turned down earlier deals with Hamas to appease extreme elements within his fragile coalition government.
—Romina Ruiz-Goiriena, USA Today, 4 Oct. 2025
We'd been nominated so many times before, and we'd been turned down all those times.
—Haadiza Ogwude, Cincinnati Enquirer, 3 Oct. 2025
Most of those variance requests were turned down, including Struve and Unger’s.
—Frederick Melo, Twin Cities, 23 Sep. 2025
Exxon made the big oil discovery in the Stabroek Block in 2015 after Chevron and many other oil producers turned down the opportunity to invest in exploration, and emerged as the operator and 45% owner of the development.
—Jordan Blum, Fortune, 22 Sep. 2025
The Hill, 13 Oct. 2025
Campbell has turned down a lot of interest from other jobs, but Penn State is a different level of job, especially for an Ohio native who began his playing career at Pitt.
—Chris Vannini, New York Times, 12 Oct. 2025
But the then-burgeoning actor, 45, turned down the part.
—Bailey Richards, PEOPLE, 11 Oct. 2025
Instead, Laura is on the rocks with her current boyfriend, Judah, who recently turned down a job in New York to stay with her in England.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Oct. 2025
Netanyahu, meanwhile, stands accused of having repeatedly turned down earlier deals with Hamas to appease extreme elements within his fragile coalition government.
—Romina Ruiz-Goiriena, USA Today, 4 Oct. 2025
We'd been nominated so many times before, and we'd been turned down all those times.
—Haadiza Ogwude, Cincinnati Enquirer, 3 Oct. 2025
Most of those variance requests were turned down, including Struve and Unger’s.
—Frederick Melo, Twin Cities, 23 Sep. 2025
Exxon made the big oil discovery in the Stabroek Block in 2015 after Chevron and many other oil producers turned down the opportunity to invest in exploration, and emerged as the operator and 45% owner of the development.
—Jordan Blum, Fortune, 22 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for turned down
Verb
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Through more than a decade of running a business and raising a son, Whebbe and Paoli refused to give up on getting the Book Lady’s books into the hands of people who will love them.—
Mary Ann Grossmann,
Twin Cities,
20 Oct. 2025
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While thousands focused on the federal government at the rally, at least one woman seemed more concentrated on calling out how Attorney General Andrea Campbell has refused to enforce the legislative audit that state voters approved last November.—
Lance Reynolds,
Boston Herald,
19 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Comey received a slight boost in his case to plead his innocence earlier this week when a judge rejected federal prosecutors’ effort to impose broad restrictions on the evidence Comey can access ahead of trial.—
Emily Hallas,
The Washington Examiner,
18 Oct. 2025
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The news caused Salesforce shares to surge as management rejected Wall Street’s narrative of sluggish revenue growth that’s been weighing on investor sentiment in 2025.—
Morgan Chittum,
CNBC,
18 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Ashley Toczylowski previously declined to comment on whether King is linked to the alleged harassing phone calls.—
Bailey Richards,
PEOPLE,
18 Oct. 2025
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After crunching the numbers to exclude armies of data-scraping AI bots, the Wikimedia Foundation says that between March and August this year, the number of Wikipedia page views coming from real humans declined by 8% year-on-year.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
18 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Joshua Karty also missed a 26-yard field goal, and Rams coach Sean McVay passed up kicking another short one to instead go for it on 4th-and-3 in the fourth quarter.—
The Athletic NFL Staff,
New York Times,
12 Oct. 2025
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The year before, she had been passed up for the lead role in the movie adaptation of My Fair Lady, which went to Audrey Hepburn, pictured.—
Andrea Wurzburger,
PEOPLE,
1 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Turned down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/turned%20down. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.
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