English → Latin
“refute” in Latin
refellōto disprove, rebut, confute, refute, challenge, contradictredarguōto disprove, refute, confute, contradictconvincōto convince; to conquer, establish; to convict, find guiltyrevincōto conquer, subdue; to convict; to refute, disprovecōnfūtōto suppress, restrain, check; to repress, diminish, impede, destroy; to refute, confute, disproverefūtōto check, repress; to restrain, oppose; to refutedīluōto wash away; to drench or moisten; to purge, clear or empty (the bowels)dissolvōto unloose, disunite, separate, dissolve, destroy; to pay, discharge (a debt etc.); to abolish, abrogate, annulerrorwandering, straying, going astray; wavering, uncertainty; error, mistake, fault
The English word refute itself goes back to Latin refūtō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
refute
refellere (to prove by good grounds and convincing arguments that a thing is false; to refute a person or thing): redarguere (to convict a person or thing of error or falsehood): refellere et redarguere: convincere (to convict a person of error fully, to show incontrovertibly that a thing is false, errores): revincere (to show by convincing counter arguments that the opposite is true; of persons or things; ☞ Liv., 6, 26, 7, crimina revicta rebus, verbis confutare nihil attinet): confutare (to overbear by argument or disputation: it is only in this sense that it is = refute; a person or thing; e.g., argumenta Stoicorum): refutare (to repel: the refutans acts on the defensive; the confutans on the offensive): refutare oratione (e.g., contraria, aliquid magis re, quam verbis): diluere (to do away with, to show its nothingness; e.g., crimen; confirmationem adversariorum). (The words are found in this connection and order.) refutare ac diluere: diluere ac refellere: diluere aliquid et falsum esse docere: dissolvere (to destroy entirely).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for refute?
- The usual Latin words for “refute” 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.