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# refute

«refute» in Mova's school dictionary: **to prove that it is wrong** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

verb (refute, refutes, refuted, refuting)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To refute an idea or claim is to prove that it is wrong. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refute/#m1)

2) (formal) To refute can also mean to say firmly that something is not true, even without proof. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refute/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In science, debate and news lessons it is about proving claims wrong with evidence. Phrases: refute a claim, refute the argument.

### examples

- She refuted his claim with photos. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refute/#x1)
- The scientist refuted the old idea. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refute/#x2)
- Can you refute this argument? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refute/#x3)
- The evidence refuted the rumour. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refute/#x4)
- He refuted the story, saying it was false. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refute/#x5)
- Use evidence to refute a false claim. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refute/#x6)

### note

Formal. «Refute» means prove wrong; «deny» just says it is not true. Past: refuted.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «refute» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/refute/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.