From Middle English denyen, from Old French denoier (French dénier), from Latin denegare, from de- ("away") and negare ("to refuse"), the latter ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ne.

• (RP) IPA: /dɪˈnaɪ/
• (America) IPA: /dəˈnaɪ/, /dɪ-/

deny (denies, present participle denying; simple past and past participle denied)

1. (transitive) To disallow or reject.

   Antonyms: grant

   I wanted to go to the party, but I was denied.

   • 1847, Anne Brontë, chapter XVI, in Agnes Grey:

     'Do! pray do! I shall be the most miserable of men if you don't. You cannot be so cruel as to deny me a favour so easily granted and yet so highly prized!' pleaded he as ardently as if his life depended on it.

2. (transitive) To assert that something is not true.

   I deny that I was at the party.

   Everyone knows he committed the crime, but he still denies it.

3. (ditransitive) To refuse to give or grant something to someone.

   Antonyms: grant

   My father denied me a good education.

   • 1754, Jonathan Edwards, An Inquiry into the Modern Prevailing Notions Respecting that Freedom of the Will which is supposed to be Essential to Moral Agency:

     To some men, it is more agreeable to deny a vicious inclination, than to gratify it.

4. To take something away from someone; to deprive of.
5. (sports, transitive) To prevent from scoring.
6. To disclaim connection with, responsibility for, etc.; to refuse to acknowledge; to disown; to abjure; to disavow.
   • 1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, volume (please specify |volume=I to X), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company [et al.], →OCLC ↗:

     the falsehood of denying his opinion

   • 1827, John Keble, The Christian Year:

     thou thrice denied, yet thrice beloved

7. (obsolete) To refuse (to do or accept something).
   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour's Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene ii]:

     if you deny to dance

• (assert something is not true) gainsay, contradict, withsay, refute, disclaim

• (antonym(s) of “disallow”): allow
• (antonym(s) of “assert something is true”): confirm, affirm

• denial

• French: nier, démentir
• German: leugnen, bestreiten, dementieren
• Italian: negare
• Portuguese: negar
• Russian: отрица́ть
• Spanish: negar

• French: refuser