refusing

verb

present participle of refuse
1
as in denying
to be unwilling to grant the reclusive movie star usually refuses requests for interviews

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in rejecting
to show unwillingness to accept, do, engage in, or agree to she refused the award, citing the hard work of others who deserved the recognition more than she did

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of refusing They were called in when some individuals were refusing to leave and laying down, blocking an exit. — Jackson Thompson Outkick, FOXNews.com, 24 Oct. 2026 Their lawyers spoke about the police refusing to reveal their location. — Asim Ali, Time, 24 Oct. 2026 Director-writer Hammad subtly adds layers to each character, refusing to allow either one to be reduced to mere victimhood. — Jay Weissberg, Variety, 23 Oct. 2026 Eisenkot, who lost a son and two nephews to fighting in Gaza, has been particularly unsparing in his criticism, repeatedly hammering Netanyahu for refusing to take any accountability for the calamity. — Aluf Benn, Foreign Affairs, 23 Oct. 2026 Iranian officials have vowed to widen their attacks to target data centers and undersea internet cables, while refusing concessions on their nuclear program. — Anniek Bao, CNBC, 22 Oct. 2026 But, refusing to die a slow death of a thousand permitting blockades or financial setbacks, SunZia instead evolved. — Sara Herschander, Vox, 22 Oct. 2026 The most prominent example of a retailer or service provider refusing to let an AI agent in has been Amazon. — Mia Sato, The Verge, 22 Oct. 2026 The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security have accused several states of knowingly harboring noncitizens on their voter rolls and refusing to collaborate to remove them. — ABC News, 21 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for refusing
  1. denying
  2. rejecting
  3. declining
  4. ignoring
Verb
  • Her husband, Conor, has gone on the record denying any involvement in her death.
    — Kelsie Cairns , Adam Sabes, FOXNews.com, 21 Oct. 2026
  • The latter predicts a single universe by denying the universal validity of Schrödinger’s equation.
    — Philipp Strasberg, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of denying
Verb
  • Alvarez said that rejecting Amendment 2 means rejecting the small farmer who can’t keep cows in the field.
    — Romy Ellenbogen Herald, Miami Herald, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Stewart was an executive producer of his friend Colbert’s show and harshly criticized the cancellation, rejecting Paramount’s financial justification and accusing the company of bending the knee to the president.
    — Brian Stelter, CNN Money, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of rejecting
Verb
  • Chinese firms have been suffering from declining profit growth amid intense competition that has eroded margins and even invited the government to step in.
    — Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 22 Oct. 2026
  • While program closures at colleges and universities often result from declining enrollment or a financial crisis, our decisions at Valencia are driven by neither.
    — Kathleen Plinske, The Orlando Sentinel, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of declining
Verb
  • Cameron Berg, who founded the nonprofit Reciprocal Research to study the potential for AI consciousness, argues that ignoring the question could carry its own dangers.
    — Eliza Strickland, IEEE Spectrum, 21 Oct. 2026
  • With nearly 70% of listeners now consuming video podcasts, treating an interview as just a microphone chat means ignoring how your audience actually consumes content.
    — Victoria Usher, Forbes.com, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of ignoring

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refuses
refusing
refutable
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Cite this Entry

“Refusing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/refusing. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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