LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
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“confute” in Latin

Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864

confute
refellere (to show by argument, that what has been said, is false; to confute anybody’s opinion or anything): redarguere (to convince of falsehood, of persons and things). (the words are found in this connexion and order.) refellere et redarguere: convincere (either to convince a person of his error, or establish the falsehood of anything triumphantly; e.g., errores): revincere (to prove the contrary of an assertion by an irresistible argument; of persons and things; compare Liv., 6, 26, 7: crimina, revicta rebus, verbis confutare nihil attinet): confutare (to make anything fall to the ground, a person or anything; e.g., argumenta Stoicorum, the refutans acts on the defensive in refuting the arguments brought against him; the confutans on the offensive, in exposing their worthlessness and cutting them up): refutare (Vid: confutare: not to admit, to push back, repulse, as it were = refute; often with the addition of oratione, a person or thing; e.g., the contrary, contraria: to refute anything more by deeds than by words, aliquid magis re, quam verbis): diluere (to weaken the force, or to show the invalidity of anything; e.g., of an accusation, crimen: the arguments or proofs of the opposite party, confirmationem adversariorum): (the words are found in this connexion and order.) refutare ac diluere, or diluere ac refellere: diluere aliquid et falsum esse docere (to make anything fall to the ground and show that it is false): dissolvere (to dissolve or annihilate by proofs and explication; e.g., a sophism, mentientem: an accusation before the judge or in the court, criminationem): to confute anything by evidence, aliquid testimoniis refutare: he has confuted himself, suo sibi argumento confutatus est: to confute anybody by his own words, suo sibi gladio aliquem jugulare (proverbially in Ter., Ad., 5, 8, 34): to endeavour to confute anybody with weak proofs, plumbeo gladio aliquem jugulare (Cic., Att., 1, 16, 2).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for confute?
The usual Latin words for “confute” are refellō, redarguō, convincō; also revincō, cōnfūtō, refūtō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.