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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

rebuff.

A sudden resistance or refusal.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɹɪˈbʌf/
  1. A sudden resistance or refusal.

    He was surprised by her quick rebuff to his proposal.
  2. Repercussion, or beating back.

Where this word comes from

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

verb/ɹɪˈbʌf/
  1. To refuse; to offer sudden or harsh resistance; to turn down or shut out.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

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

verb/ɹiːˈbʌf/
  1. To buff again.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *wre- Latin re-der. Old French re-bor. Middle English re- English re- Ancient Greek [Term?]? Ancient Greek βούβαλος (boúbalos)bor. Latin būbalusder. Late Latin bufalusder. Italian bufaloder. Old French bufle Middle French buffleder. English buffe English buff English rebuff From re- + buff.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.