Word of the Day
Word
Rebuff (v.) Listen
Difficulty
E — Levels range from A to J. What is my level?
Definition
To repel, repulse, resist, reject, throw back.
Details
REBUFF may also mean to deny abruptly, check sharply, snub. In the test phrase: "The curious were REBUFFED," the word is thought by 14% of readers to mean EXPELLED. This is no doubt a confusion of EXPEL with REPEL. EXPEL comes from the Latin EX, out, and PELLERE, to drive. Even though Shakespeare says in HAMLET: "Should patch a wall to EXPEL the winter's flaw," EXPEL means drive out, not keep out. One can EXPEL only someone who is already in. To REPEL, from the Latin RE-, back, and the same PELLERE, to drive, is to drive back, and so keep out, repulse, REBUFF. To REBUFF is a combination of RE-, back, and the word BUFF, which goes back through Middle English to Old French and Italian. The verb to BUFF, to blow, strike, puff, is seldom heard, but survives in the noun a BUFF; in BUFFET, a blow; and in BUFFER, an apparatus to soften a blow. To REBUFF is to blow back, strike back, hold off. Listen
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