Meaning & use
rebuff
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Meanings
verbtransitiveformal
To turn down an offer, request or person in a sharp or unfriendly way.
Grammar: Takes an object: she rebuffed his invitation.
Patterns
- rebuff someone
- rebuff an offer
She rebuffed his attempts to make friends with a cold stare.
The union rebuffed the company's latest offer.
He rebuffed every request for an interview.
nouncountableformal
A sharp, unfriendly refusal of an offer, a request or a person's approach.
Grammar: Often follows meet with or suffer: the proposal met with a rebuff.
Patterns
- meet with a rebuff
- suffer a rebuff
His kind offer met with a cold rebuff.
The senator's plan suffered a rebuff in the committee.
She took the rebuff calmly and walked away.
Word forms
| third person singular | rebuffs |
|---|---|
| past tense | rebuffed |
| past participle | rebuffed |
| -ing form | rebuffing |
| plural | rebuffs |
Common combinations
- rebuff an offer
- The council rebuffed the developer's offer.
- rebuff advances
- She politely rebuffed his advances.
- rebuff criticism
- The minister rebuffed criticism of the plan.
- firmly rebuff
- The manager firmly rebuffed the request for extra pay.
- a sharp rebuff
- His idea drew a sharp rebuff from the board.
- meet with a rebuff
- Her appeal met with a rebuff.
Synonyms and how they differ
- reject
- Reject is the neutral word for refusing something, while rebuff adds the sense of a curt, unkind manner.
- snub
- Snub means to ignore someone on purpose, whereas rebuff means actively refusing them.
- spurn
- Spurn is more literary and suggests contempt for the thing refused, whereas rebuff often sounds more neutral.
- decline
- Decline is polite and mild, where rebuff is blunt and may hurt the other person.
Opposites
Word family
- rebuffed adjective
- turned down in an unfriendly way
- rebuffing noun
- the act of refusing sharply
- rebuffed verb
- the past tense, meaning refused sharply
Commonly confused: rebuff or rebuke? rebuff or rebut?
rebuff vs rebuke
Rebuke means to scold someone for a fault. Rebuff means to refuse them or what they offer.
rebuff vs rebut
Rebut means to argue that a claim is false, not to refuse an offer.
Practice
When the stranger offered to carry her bag, she ___ him and walked quickly away.
Choose one answer.
Rebuffed means turned down in an unfriendly way. Rebuked would mean scolded him, which describes a different reaction.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “rebuff”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.