Redargue

//ɹɪˈdɑːɡjuː// verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To disprove or refute (someone) in an argument. transitive

    "Dia[ph Silkworm]. Sir, Ile redargue you, / By diſputation. / Com[passe]. O let's heare this! / I long to heare a man diſpute in his ſhirt / Of valour, and his ſvvord dravvne in his hand."

  2. 2
    To rebut or refute (an argument, a proposition, etc.). transitive

    "Nathaniel Carpenter [i.e., Nathanael Carpenter] late Fellow of Exceter Colledge in Oxford, in the ſecond booke and ſeventh chapter of his learned Geographicall concluſions, thus fully redargues that forgerie."

  3. 3
    Often followed by for or of: to censure, to rebuke, to reprove (someone or something). obsolete, transitive

    "Wherefore, says he, the libel maun be redargued by the pannel proving her defences."

  4. 4
    To argue (a case, proposition, etc.) against someone. obsolete, rare, transitive
  5. 5
    To present a disproof or refutation of an argument, a person, etc. intransitive, obsolete

Synonyms

All synonyms
counterargue

Example

More examples

"Dia[ph Silkworm]. Sir, Ile redargue you, / By diſputation. / Com[passe]. O let's heare this! / I long to heare a man diſpute in his ſhirt / Of valour, and his ſvvord dravvne in his hand."

Etymology

From Late Middle English redarguen, redargue (“to defeat (someone) in an argument; to rebuke, reprove”), from Middle French redarguer and Old French redargüer (“to disprove, refute; to accuse, blame; to rebuke, reprove”) (modern French rédarguer), and from their etymon Latin redarguere (“to disprove, refute”) (compare Late Latin redarguere (“to rebuke, reprove”)), the present active infinitive of redarguō (“to disprove, refute; to contradict”), from red- (a variant of re- (prefix meaning ‘again’)) + arguō (“to assert, declare; to clarify, make plain; to prove, show; to accuse, charge with; to censure, rebuke, reprove; to blame; to denounce as false”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erǵ- (“argent, white; glittering”), in the sense of casting light on something to make it clear). Doublet of argue. Cognates * Catalan redargüir * Italian redarguire * Old Occitan redarguir * Portuguese redargüir * Spanish redargüir

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