Denial

How to spell denial

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce denial

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does denial mean?

1. nounA statement that something is not true, or a refusal to grant or allow something.
2. nounA refusal to accept a painful or obvious reality, often as a way of coping.

Denial in a sentence

• The minister issued a flat denial of any wrongdoing.

• He stayed in denial about his debts until the bank froze the account.

• The insurer's denial of the claim left the family with a huge bill.

• The counsellor explained that her denial was a normal stage of grief.

Where does denial come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Denial is the noun formed from the verb 'deny', which English took from the Old French 'denier', meaning 'to refuse' or 'to contradict'. That French verb descends from the Latin 'denegare', a strengthened form of 'negare', meaning 'to say no' or 'to refuse', built from 'neg-', the same negative element seen in 'negative' and 'renege'. The noun 'denial' appears in English from the mid 1500s, formed by adding the suffix '-al' to the native-looking verb 'deny'. The spelling trap lives in that ending: 'deny' loses its 'y' and gains an 'i' before '-al', giving the pattern 'den-i-al' rather than the tempting 'denyal'. In the twentieth century psychology gave the word an extra life, using it for the refusal to accept an uncomfortable truth, but the core idea of saying no has stayed constant for centuries.

How the word is built

• de- (away, removal)
• neg/ny (from negare/deny: to say no)
• -al (noun-forming suffix)