How to Use refute in a Sentence

refute

verb
  • The lawyer refuted the testimony of the witness.
  • He refutes the notion that he's planning to retire soon.
  • She refuted the allegations against her.
  • Back in May 2019, Osteen and his church were quick to refute the claim as well.
    — Eric Litke, USA TODAY, 15 May 2019
  • Which does not refute this fact: The premise of Town Hall was brilliant.
    — Jack Fowler, National Review, 2 Sep. 2020
  • Still, there are those who refute the Free Press report.
    — Mark Heim | [email protected], al, 10 Aug. 2020
  • In court documents, the scouts refute that idea as well.
    — Alex Vejar, The Salt Lake Tribune, 4 Aug. 2023
  • The company has a right to a hearing to refute the findings.
    — Jackie Borchardt, Cincinnati.com, 31 July 2019
  • One way to approach this is to ask: What is Ghost World trying to refute?
    — Ling Ma, The Atlantic, 16 May 2022
  • And both refute the popular claim that Sims thought the drugs were too unproven and might prove lethal.
    — Rosalind Bentley, ajc, 20 Feb. 2022
  • The Audit Guys also used the cast-vote record to refute that attack.
    — Steven Rosenfeld, The New Republic, 27 Jan. 2022
  • If the opening set introduced any doubts, though, the rest of the show refuted them.
    — Abby Webster, Billboard, 14 Mar. 2025
  • This claim was refuted by the city’s mayor and local leaders on both sides of the aisle.
    — National Geographic, 30 Jan. 2020
  • Trying to refute these claims is like playing whack-a-mole.
    — Steven Salzberg, Forbes, 27 Dec. 2021
  • As head-scratching as the whole thing is to look back on, there’s no real refuting that point.
    — Josh Kendall, The Athletic, 14 Jan. 2025
  • Again, the video appears to refute what police said in their statement.
    — Monique Judge, The Root, 21 Mar. 2018
  • The developments of the last few weeks would seem to refute many of the tactical critiques, at the very least.
    — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 16 June 2020
  • Or perhaps the goader will attempt to refute the claims that life has value.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 10 July 2022
  • But Pompeo refused to refute the idea that Trump could delay the election.
    — Deirdre Shesgreen, USA TODAY, 26 Apr. 2018
  • And then step down and help your nemesis step up and refute your argument.
    — Melanie Laughman, The Enquirer, 4 July 2022
  • While Twitter was eager to refute Trump's claims, the reason for Trump's egregious lie might be the best part.
    — Sarah Midkiff, refinery29.com, 30 Dec. 2020
  • The justices may duck this argument but cannot refute it.
    — The Editors, National Review, 22 July 2021
  • The players said the effort to refute that premise in general, though, began with the start of bowl practice.
    — Nathan Baird, cleveland, 21 Dec. 2021
  • In 2019, he was forced to refute claims that his doctorate was bogus.
    — Jerry Harmer, Star Tribune, 5 May 2021
  • OpenAI refuted the claim but pledged to change the sound anyway out of respect for her wishes.
    — Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 20 June 2024
  • The Arizona Secretary of State has refuted the video’s claim.
    — Thomas Brewster, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024
  • But our study, using the largest research cohort of Latinos in the United States, seems to refute the paradox.
    — Olveen Carrasquillo, The Conversation, 8 June 2022
  • The Spurs publicly have denied the substance of these reports, but Leonard has done or said nothing to refute them.
    — Mike Finger, San Antonio Express-News, 23 Feb. 2018
  • The evidence pointing to her former cellmates, Devlin wrote was refuted by the review of Morin’s phone calls, lab tests and interviews with the inmates who all denied any drug use.
    — Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 25 June 2025
  • The series refutes two of Donald Trump’s bigger lies: that climate change is a hoax and undocumented immigrants are depraved.
    — Air Mail, 21 June 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'refute.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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