Rebut

//ɹɪˈbʌt// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To drive back or beat back; to repulse.

    "Who him r'encountring fierce, as hauke in flight, / Perforce rebutted backe."

  2. 2
    prove to be false or incorrect wordnet
  3. 3
    To deny the truth of something, especially by presenting arguments that disprove it.

    "Rebutting allegations that Scotland's railways had been deliberately run down, he pointed out that in the past nine years over £70m had been spent on their development."

  4. 4
    overthrow by argument, evidence, or proof wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
refuteadvocateallege in supportansweranswer conclusivelyargue down

Example

More examples

"You'll have three minutes to rebut the argument of the opposing side."

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English rebutten, rebouten, from Old French reboter, rebuter, rebouter, etc., from re- + boter, buter, bouter (“to butt”). Entered English around 1302-1307.

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