Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To indicate unwillingness to do, accept, give, or allow: She was refused admittance. He refused treatment.
- v. To indicate unwillingness (to do something): refused to leave.
- v. To decline to jump (an obstacle). Used of a horse.
- v. To decline to do, accept, give, or allow something.
- n. Items or material discarded or rejected as useless or worthless; trash or rubbish.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To deny, as a request, demand, or invitation; decline to do or grant: as, to refuse admittance; she refused herself to callers.
- To decline to accept; reject: as, to refuse an office; to refuse an offer.
- To disown; disavow; forsake.
- Milit., to hold (troops) back, or move (them) back from the regular alinement, when about to engage the enemy in battle. In the oblique order of battle, if either flank attack, the other flank is refused.
- Fail to receive; resist; repel.
- Synonyms and Decline, Refuse, Reject, Repel, and Rebuff are in the order of strength.
- To decline to accept or consent; fail to comply.
- n. A refusal.
- n. That which is refused or rejected; waste or useless matter; the worst or meanest part; rubbish.
- n. Synonyms Dregs, scum, dross, trash, rubbish.
- Refused; rejected; hence, worthless; of no value: as, the refuse parts of stone or timber.
- To fuse or melt again.
- In chess, same as decline, 10.
Wiktionary
- adj. Discarded, rejected.
- n. Collectively, items or material that have been discarded; rubbish, garbage.
- v. transitive To decline (a request or demand).
- v. intransitive To decline a request or demand, forbear; to withhold permission.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To deny, as a request, demand, invitation, or command; to decline to do or grant.
- v. (Mil.) To throw back, or cause to keep back (as the center, a wing, or a flank), out of the regular aligment when troops ar� about to engage the enemy.
- v. To decline to accept; to reject; to deny the request or petition of.
- v. obsolete To disown.
- v. To deny compliance; not to comply.
- n. obsolete Refusal.
- n. That which is refused or rejected as useless; waste or worthless matter.
- adj. Refused; rejected; hence; left as unworthy of acceptance; of no value; worthless.
WordNet 3.0
- v. resist immunologically the introduction of some foreign tissue or organ
- v. refuse to accept
- v. refuse entrance or membership
- v. refuse to let have
- v. elude, especially in a baffling way
- v. show unwillingness towards
- n. food that is discarded (as from a kitchen)
Etymologies
- From Old French refuser, from Vulgar Latin *refusare, a blend of Classical Latin refutō and recusō. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English refusen, from Old French refuser, from Vulgar Latin *refūsāre, probably blend of Latin recūsāre, to refuse; see recuse and Latin refūtāre, refute; see refute.Middle English, from Old French refus, rejection, refuse, from refuser, to refuse; see refuse1. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“SB 387 redefines loose material! in Transportation Code Chapter 725 by adding the term refuse which is defined as trash! tmj_orl_transp Hiring: director, transportation - CHEP (Orlando,”
Gaea Times (by Simple Thoughts) Breaking News and incisive views 24/7
“Did Mister Somin refuse to answer question #9, the racial profile question?”
“Yet politicians like Senator McCain refuse to open their minds to alternatives.”
“Is it that changes in refuse collection mean there are more bins outside houses to be scavenged.”
“If someone asks you to stop, puts their hand in front of the camera and looks clearly uncomfortable when you refuse is that not a blatant violation of their privacy?”
“Each swirling mass of refuse is massive and collects trash from all over the world.”
“If oil, paint or animal refuse is spilled, someone will sprinkle dirt over the slick, smelly or gummy spot.”
“Said to be twice the size of the State of Texas and comprised of about 3.5 million tons of plastic shopping bags and random pieces of trash, most of this lightweight and buoyant refuse is discarded onshore and carried out by wind and currents.”
“Apple -- which has mightily resisted tampering in any way with its 99 cent price point for tracks -- said that if the rate hike goes through and the labels refuse to absorb the entire resulting increase, the iTunes music store will become unprofitable.”
“Do wear old shoes as the cement floors can get wet and are covered in refuse after all the early morning action.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘refuse’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
Laban, circumcise, beget, Esau, Rebekah, speckle, Sodom, Pharaoh, Canaanite, Canaan, Jacob, Lot and 1286 more...
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popupstorybook's heteronym list
I like heteronyms--two words with identical spelling but different pronunciations. Here are a few off the top of my head. Feel free to add more. *Here's a challenge: use these words to create se...
entrance, resume, dove, construct, wind, produce, live, appropriate, slough, buffet, project, invalid and 7 more...
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Unwanted matter
gangue, dross, slag, scoria, refuse, trash, cinder, ashes, leavings, recrement, debris, waste and 37 more...
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allophonic homographs revisited
In 2007, wired weird started a marvelous list:
Two words, one spelling, two pronunciations
peaked, atour, sidereal, logit, number, minute, wound, bow, agape, lead, desert, buffet and 11 more...
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Bi-sonics
Allophonic homographs. Words that are pronounced at least 2 ways, having different senses. 'august' and 'polish' are less ambiguous since capitalization make the correct pronunciation clear (at lea...
sow, row, dove, polish, precedent, rewet, lower, read, bass, patent, primer, tear and 102 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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Lees
Items of little or no value that are left behind by physical or biological processes other than passing through an alimentary canal. See also Valse's Leftovers and reesetee's Hogwash! for other tak...
lees, dross, dregs, orts, debris, jetsam, flotsam, rubbage, rubbish, trash, refuse, junk and 130 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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GRE Vocab
laconic, penchant, charlatan, inimical, exhort, avuncular, quandary, irascible, trestle, repudiate, subterfuge, rapine and 132 more...
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GRE Readings
conclusive, derivative, conviction, affected, ample, defiance, bid, conception, demean, converse, compliance, base and 133 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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Misdivision fun
Words which can plausibly be pronounced as two different words.
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eloise's Words
embrace, perfect, imagine, dance, water, color, echo, hollow, sorrow, beauty, impossible, violet and 438 more...
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GRE Words Not Available in Power Vocab
machinate, barnstorm, pauper, heretical, fawn, inter, provenance, sartorial, mince, martinet, veritable, dignified and 81 more...
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Leftovers
Things of a vestigial nature.
vestiges, remnants, debris, detritus, leftovers, artifact, appendix, molt, clippings, shavings, wisdom teeth, residue and 18 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for refuse.

oroboros Trash vs. turn down. Nov 23, 2007