deny
EtymologySynonyms
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
Etymology
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.
Pronunciation Verbdeny (denies, present participle denying; simple past and past participle denied)
- (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.
- (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.
- (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.
- To take something away from someone; to deprive of.
- (sports, transitive) To prevent from scoring.
- 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
- (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
Conjugation of deny
- (assert something is not true) gainsay, contradict, withsay, refute, disclaim
- French: nier, démentir
- German: leugnen, bestreiten, dementieren
- Italian: negare
- Portuguese: negar
- Russian: отрица́ть
- Spanish: negar
- French: refuser
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
