Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A refusal to comply with or satisfy a request.
  • noun A refusal to grant the truth of a statement or allegation; a contradiction.
  • noun Law The formal challenge by a defendant of the truth of an allegation made by the plaintiff.
  • noun A refusal to accept or believe something, such as a doctrine or belief.
  • noun Psychology An unconscious defense mechanism characterized by refusal to acknowledge painful realities, thoughts, or feelings.
  • noun The act of disowning or disavowing; repudiation.
  • noun Abstinence; self-denial.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of denying or contradicting; the assertion of the contrary of some proposition or affirmation; negation; contradiction.
  • noun Refusal to grant; the negation or refusal of a request or a petition; non-compliance.
  • noun Refusal to accept or acknowledge; a disowning; rejection: as, a denial of God; a denial of the faith or the truth.
  • noun In law, a traverse in the pleading of one party of the statement set up by the other; a defense.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of gainsaying, refusing, or disowning; negation; -- the contrary of affirmation.
  • noun A refusal to admit the truth of a statement, charge, imputation, etc.; assertion of the untruth of a thing stated or maintained; a contradiction.
  • noun A refusal to grant; rejection of a request.
  • noun A refusal to acknowledge; disclaimer of connection with; disavowal; -- the contrary of confession
  • noun a declining of some gratification; restraint of one's appetites or propensities; self-denial.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The negation in logic
  • noun A refusal to comply with a request.
  • noun An assertion of untruth
  • noun Refusal to believe a problem exists
  • noun formerly, psychology A defense mechanism involving a refusal to accept the truth of a phenomenon or prospect.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the act of refusing to comply (as with a request)
  • noun renunciation of your own interests in favor of the interests of others
  • noun (psychiatry) a defense mechanism that denies painful thoughts
  • noun a defendant's answer or plea denying the truth of the charges against him
  • noun the act of asserting that something alleged is not true

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From deny.]

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