HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY
To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.
Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.
THE USAGE PANEL
The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.
AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP
The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG
The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.
INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?
Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com
v. re·fused, re·fus·ing, re·fus·es v.tr. 1. a. To indicate unwillingness to do, accept, give, or allow: She was refused admittance. He refused treatment. b. To indicate unwillingness (to do something): refused to leave. 2. To decline to jump (an obstacle). Used of a horse. v.intr. To decline to do, accept, give, or allow something. [Middle English refusen, from Old French refuser, from Vulgar Latin *refūsāre, probably blend of Latin recūsāre, to refuse; see RECUSE, and Latin refūtāre, refute; see REFUTE.] re·fuser n. Synonyms: refuse1, decline, reject, spurn, rebuff These verbs mean to be unwilling to accept, consider, or receive someone or something. Refuse implies determination and often brusqueness: "The commander ... refused to discuss questions of right" (George Bancroft). "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse" (Mario Puzo). To decline is to refuse politely: "I declined election to the National Institute of Arts and Letters ... and now I must decline the Pulitzer Prize" (Sinclair Lewis). Reject suggests the discarding of someone or something as defective or useless; it implies categoric refusal: "He again offered himself for enlistment and was again rejected" (Arthur S.M. Hutchinson). To spurn is to reject scornfully or contemptuously: "The more she spurns my love, / The more it grows" (Shakespeare). Rebuff pertains to blunt or disdainful rejection: "He had ... gone too far in his advances, and had been rebuffed" (Robert Louis Stevenson). |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
