Rebuff

//ɹɪˈbʌf// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A sudden resistance or refusal.

    "He was surprised by her quick rebuff to his proposal."

  2. 2
    a deliberate discourteous act (usually as an expression of anger or disapproval) wordnet
  3. 3
    Repercussion, or beating back.

    "the strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud"

  4. 4
    an instance of driving away or warding off wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To refuse; to offer sudden or harsh resistance; to turn down or shut out. transitive

    "The plaque (2014) doesn't tell you that Leonard [Woolf] had initially been rebuffed. His intended proposal was refused by Virginia [Woolf to be], who then had a change of heart."

  2. 2
    To buff again. transitive
  3. 3
    reject outright and bluntly wordnet
  4. 4
    force or drive back wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
repelabjurationabjureabjurementbackfirebacklash

Example

More examples

"Annoyed at the churlish rebuff, I turned my back and walked home."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From obsolete French rebuffer, from Middle French rebuffer (compare French rebiffer (“to rise up, revolt”)), from Italian ribuffare.

Etymology 2

From re- + buff.

Related phrases

turn down

More for "rebuff"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.