rebut

Verb
US[rih-buht]/rɪˈbʌt/2 syllablesalso [ree-buht] /riˈbʌt/
Synonyms: refutecontrovert

Open English WordNet

Verb (2)rebutted, rebutting

  1. overthrow by argument, evidence, or proof“The speaker refuted his opponent's arguments”Synonyms: refuteMore general disown, renounceMore specific answer, oppose
  2. prove to be false or incorrectSynonyms: refutecontrovertMore general disprove, confute

Related words defence noun, refutation noun, confuter noun, refuter noun

Word of the day · Oct 15About this word
exemplaryadjective

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Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Re·but′ (rē-bŭt′), transitive verb [past tense & past participle Rebutted; present participle & verbal noun Rebutting.]

Origin: OF. rebouter to repulse, drive back; pref. re- + bouter to push, thrust. See 1st Butt, Boutade.

1. To drive or beat back; to repulse.

Who him, rencount'ring fierce, as hawk in flight, Perforce rebutted back.— Edmund Spenser

2. Law To contradict, meet, or oppose by argument, plea, or countervailing proof. Benjamin Vaughan. Abbott

Re·but′ intransitive verb

1. To retire; to recoil. obsolete Edmund Spenser

2. Law To make, or put in, an answer, as to a plaintiff's surrejoinder.

The plaintiff may answer the rejoinder by a surrejoinder; on which the defendant may rebut.— Blackstone, Sir William

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54

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