Nominal Forms
Infinitive: to refute
Participle: refuted
Gerund: refuting
Cognates
-
Indicative
Present
| I | refute |
| you | refute |
| he;she;it | refutes |
| we | refute |
| you | refute |
| they | refute |
Perfect
| I | have refuted |
| you | have refuted |
| he;she;it | has refuted |
| we | have refuted |
| you | have refuted |
| they | have refuted |
Past
| I | refuted |
| you | refuted |
| he;she;it | refuted |
| we | refuted |
| you | refuted |
| they | refuted |
Pluperfect
| I | had refuted |
| you | had refuted |
| he;she;it | had refuted |
| we | had refuted |
| you | had refuted |
| they | had refuted |
Future
| I | will refute |
| you | will refute |
| he;she;it | will refute |
| we | will refute |
| you | will refute |
| they | will refute |
Future Perfect
| I | will have refuted |
| you | will have refuted |
| he;she;it | will have refuted |
| we | will have refuted |
| you | will have refuted |
| they | will have refuted |
Subjunctive
Present
| I | refute |
| you | refute |
| he;she;it | refute |
| we | refute |
| you | refute |
| they | refute |
Perfect
| I | have refuted |
| you | have refuted |
| he;she;it | have refuted |
| we | have refuted |
| you | have refuted |
| they | have refuted |
Imperfect
| I | refuted |
| you | refuted |
| he;she;it | refuted |
| we | refuted |
| you | refuted |
| they | refuted |
Pluperfect
| I | had refuted |
| you | had refuted |
| he;she;it | had refuted |
| we | had refuted |
| you | had refuted |
| they | had refuted |
Conditional
Present
| I | would refute |
| you | would refute |
| he;she;it | would refute |
| we | would refute |
| you | would refute |
| they | would refute |
Perfect
| I | would have refuted |
| you | would have refuted |
| he;she;it | would have refuted |
| we | would have refuted |
| you | would have refuted |
| they | would have refuted |
Imperative
| you | refute |
| we | Let's refute |
| you | refute |
Verbs conjugated like 'refute'
abacinate,
abalienate,
abase,
abate,
abbreviate,
abdicate,
abduce,
aberrate,
aberuncate,
abirritate,
abjudge,
abjudicate,
abjugate,
abjure,
ablactate,
ablaqueate,
able,
ablegate,
abligate,
abnegate, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)
Verbs similar to 'refute'
refuge,
refuse,
repute,
belute,
defuse,
defuze,
depute,
elute,
fute,
re-fuse,
Additional Information
Phrasal Verbs
Etymology
1. 1513, "refuse, reject," from L.
refutare "drive back, repress, repel, rebut," from
re- "back" +
-futare "to beat," probably from PIE base
*bhat- "to strike down" (cf.
beat). Meaning "prove wrong" dates from 1545. Since c.1964 linguists have frowned on the subtle shift in meaning towards "to deny," as it is used in connection with
allegation.
2. From Latin refūtō (“refute, repudiate”). See: Latin '
refūtō'.
Sample Sentences
-
After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it, "I refute it thus." [1791, James Boswell, The life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.:]
-
A spokesperson for VARS Technology said: “We completely refute the suggestion that our market-leading ANPR system is unreliable". [2025 December 20, Taro Kaneko, “Family ‘banned from more than 1,000 petrol stations’ amid fuel theft row”, in The Guardian:]