rebuff

To rebuff is to reject someone or something in an abrupt way.

(verb)

When someone asks you on a date and you turn them down by telling them you don't like the way they dress, this is an example of a time when you rebuff.

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See rebuff in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

  1. an abrupt, blunt refusal of offered advice, help, etc.
  2. any check or repulse

Origin: MFr rebuffe < It rabbuffo < rabbuffare, to disarrange, altered by metathesis (prob. infl. by buffare, to blow) < baruffare, to scuffle < Langobardic *biraufan, akin to OHG biroufan, to tussle, pluck out

transitive verb

  1. to refuse bluntly; snub
  2. to check or repulse

See rebuff in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun
  1. A blunt or abrupt repulse or refusal, as to an offer.
  2. A check or an abrupt setback to progress or action.
transitive verb re·buffed, re·buff·ing, re·buffs
  1. To reject bluntly, often disdainfully; snub. See Synonyms at refuse1.
  2. To repel or drive back.

Origin:

Origin: From obsolete French rebuffer, to reject

Origin: , from Italian ribuffare

Origin: , from ribuffo, reprimand

Origin: : ri-, back (from Latin re-; see re-)

Origin: + buffo, gust, puff (of imitative origin)

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