Refusal

How to spell refusal

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce refusal

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does refusal mean?

1. nounThe act of declining to accept, give, or do something.

Refusal in a sentence

• Her blunt refusal to sign the contract ended the negotiation.

• The council issued a formal refusal of the planning application.

Where does refusal come from?

Language of origin: French

The word grows out of the verb 'refuse', which English took from the Old French 'refuser', meaning to turn down or decline. The French form descends from a Vulgar Latin 'refusare', generally explained as a blend of two Latin verbs: 'refutare', to drive back or rebut, and 'recusare', to object or decline; the literal sense in both was pushing something away. English speakers added the native action-noun suffix '-al' (the same ending seen in 'arrival', 'denial' and 'approval') to coin 'refusal' in the fifteenth century, naming the act of refusing. The spelling trap sits in that unstressed final syllable, which sounds like a faint 'ul' yet is written '-al', not '-le' or '-el'. Remembering that 'refusal' is simply 'refuse' plus '-al', with the 'e' dropping out, keeps the ending steady.

How the word is built

• refus- (from refuse: to decline)
• -al (noun-forming suffix denoting an action)