Rebuttal

How to spell rebuttal

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce rebuttal

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does rebuttal mean?

1. nounA reply that contradicts or disproves an argument, accusation or claim.

Rebuttal in a sentence

• The lawyer prepared a detailed rebuttal to the prosecution's claims.

• Her rebuttal to the criticism cited three independent studies.

Where does rebuttal come from?

Language of origin: French

The word grows from the verb 'rebut', which English took from Old French 'rebuter' or 'reboter' in the medieval period. That verb combined 're-', meaning 'back' or 'against', with 'boter', meaning 'to push, thrust or strike', a verb of Germanic origin that also gave us 'butt' as in a goat butting with its head. So to rebut someone was literally to push their argument back at them. By the 1600s English speakers were using 'rebut' as a legal term for answering and refuting an opponent's evidence, and the noun 'rebuttal' was formed by adding the noun suffix '-al' in the early 1800s, chiefly in courtroom and debating contexts. The double 't' that catches many writers comes straight from that 'butt' core, the same thrusting root that sits inside 'button' and 'abut'.

How the word is built

• re- (back, against)
• butt (from Old French boter: to thrust, strike)
• -al (noun suffix)