rebuff

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English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From obsolete French rebuffer, from Middle French rebuffer (compare French rebiffer (“to rise up, revolt”)), from Italian ribuffare.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ɹɪˈbʌf/
    • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌf

Noun[edit]

rebuff (plural rebuffs)

  1. A sudden resistance or refusal.
    • 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:
      And it is symptomatic of the many paradoxes of Lederer's life that of all the people in the room, Brotherhood is the one whom he would most wish to serve, if ever he had the opportunity, even though — or perhaps because — his occasional efforts to ingratiate himself with his adopted hero have met with iron rebuff.
    He was surprised by her quick rebuff to his proposal.
  2. Repercussion, or beating back.
Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

rebuff (third-person singular simple present rebuffs, present participle rebuffing, simple past and past participle rebuffed)

  1. To refuse; to offer sudden or harsh resistance; to turn down or shut out.
    • 2021 September 22, Stephen Roberts, “The writings on the wall...”, in RAIL, number 940, page 71:
      The plaque (2014) doesn't tell you that Leonard [Woolf] had initially been rebuffed. His intended proposal was refused by Virginia [Woolf to be], who then had a change of heart.
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

re- +‎ buff

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ɹiːˈbʌf/
    • Audio (Southern England)(file)

Verb[edit]

rebuff (third-person singular simple present rebuffs, present participle rebuffing, simple past and past participle rebuffed)

  1. (transitive) To buff again.

Anagrams[edit]

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