Refute

How to spell refute

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce refute

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does refute mean?

1. verbTo prove that a statement, theory, or accusation is wrong or false.

Refute in a sentence

• The lawyer produced receipts to refute the claim that her client had not paid.

• New data can quickly refute a theory that once seemed solid.

Where does refute come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Refute comes from the Latin verb refutare, which meant to drive back, beat back, or repel. It was formed from the prefix re-, meaning back, joined to a root futare, meaning to beat or to strike, an element also visible in the related word confute. The literal image, then, is of an argument being beaten back or pushed away. English took the word up in the middle of the sixteenth century, at first in the strong sense of proving a claim false by argument or evidence. In careful modern usage it still keeps that forceful meaning, to disprove rather than merely to deny, although it is now widely stretched to mean simply to reject or contradict. Knowing the Latin futare, to beat, helps fix the spelling: it is fut in the middle, never the foot of a foe.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• fut (from Latin futare, to beat or drive)
• -e