Refutation

//ˌɹɛf.jʊˈteɪ.ʃən// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An act of refuting or disproving; the disproving of an argument, opinion, testimony, doctrine or theory by argument or countervailing proof; evidence of falseness. countable, uncountable

    "Near-synonyms: rebuttal (see note), counterargument, counterassertion, counterclaim, denial"

  2. 2
    the act of determining that something is false wordnet
  3. 3
    A vocal answer to an attack on one's assertions. countable, proscribed, uncountable
  4. 4
    any evidence that helps to establish the falsity of something wordnet
  5. 5
    the speech act of answering an attack on your assertions wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
disproofdisproofrefutal;abjurationabjurement

Example

More examples

"The best refutation of the imaginary Malthusian laws of "land depletion" is the practice of Soviet collective farming."

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French refutation (compare French réfutation, Spanish refutación, Portuguese refutação, Italian refutazione) or its etymon Latin refūtātiō, from refūtō + -ātiō. By surface analysis, refute + -ation. First attested in 1536 (in sense 1).

Related phrases

self-refutation

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