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What does the word "refute" mean?




Can "refute" simply mean "deny"? If so: isn't that unnecessarily confusing?

Typically and historically, refutation means "to prove a claim to be false or a person to be in error." 

Example: "The observation of noontime shadows at both Alexandria and Syene can refute the flat earth theory." [There is no noontime shadow at Syene, on the equator. There is a shadow at Alexandria, at a latitude of 31 degrees.] 

Yet one irritatingly often encounters the word "refute" used where "deny" would suit the context better. 

"At a news conference, the Senator refuted claims that he had embezzled campaign funds to finance an excursion to Alexandria with prostitutes." 

I just made that one up. But the following less amusing example is authentic:

"Sometime in 2023, blockchain firm Forte acquired game studios Phoenix Labs and Rumble Games. However, it would be a year before this came to light, because according to a report from Game Developer, Forte demanded secrecy from employees. (Forte refutes this)."

Forte refuted the report from Game Developer ... how? Simply by denying it, so far as I can tell.

Shouldn't the semantic police crack down on this? 

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  1. HenryNovember 12, 2024 at 7:16 AM

    Christopher, you are absolutely right; my 1987 unabridged dictionary defines "refute" solely as "to prove to be false or erroneous." But I have seen it used to mean "deny," and googling its meaning shows a couple of online dictionaries that have "deny" as a secondary meaning. It would be awful if that misuse spreads, because it is confusing -- almost necessarily confusing in addition to unnecessarily confusing, as you point out.

    If "refute" comes to mean "deny," It would be even worse than the change, which has become ubiquitous, of "issue" to mean "problem." When someone says, "I'm going to the dentist because I have an issue with my teeth," at least no one thinks that he is engaged in a debate with his teeth over some issue, even though that's what he's said.

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