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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
refusal
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
first refusal
▪ I’ll let you have first refusal on the car.
obstinate refusal
▪ an obstinate refusal to obey
point-blank refusal
▪ a point-blank refusal
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
flat
▪ There'd been a chorus of objection then and a flat refusal from Becky to stay with the younger children.
▪ In many cases where a request has been made, it has met with a flat refusal.
▪ She had not anticipated a flat refusal.
obstinate
▪ Ballater sensed obstinate refusal rather than a willingness to bargain.
▪ The obstinate refusal of many males to support gun control is not chiefly a product of conditioning by the weapons industry.
▪ A defendant can combat an obstinate refusal even to consider compromise by a shrewd payment into court, or a Calderbank offer.
stubborn
▪ Perhaps it was her stubborn refusal to see her family broken up that made Mrs Breen appealing to Farnham.
■ NOUN
rate
▪ Certainly, voluntary anonymised seroprevalence studies are discouraged because it is felt that even a 5% refusal rate may invalidate the results.
▪ The refusal rate has varied between 5% and 6%.
▪ Our concern is not the actual refusal rate but to ensure that families have choice on the basis of informed consent.
▪ A considerable inducement was offered, but the refusal rate was high.
▪ At that time the refusal rate by the coroners in our region was effectively zero.
▪ Results show that interviewers who have worked for over five years have lower refusal rates than more recent recruits.
■ VERB
accept
▪ This is because it is possible to dismiss fairly for a refusal to accept change.
▪ This attitude is linked to their refusal to accept that the prohibition of inhumane weapons applies to nuclear weapons.
▪ Fundamentalism is radically anti - catholic in its refusal to accept any form of priestly mediation.
▪ Specialist, separate services for dementia sufferers v Negative segregation, that is, the refusal to accept dementing people into a service.
▪ The gifts had become a pressure, an embarrassment, and her refusal to accept them had made him manipulative.
▪ The refusal to accept a marriage proposal was often interpreted as a statement of superiority.
▪ Margaret was in complete agreement with her husband's refusal to accept the bribe of a bishopric.
▪ These varied from outright refusal to accept the woman engineer, to a bantering jokiness.
acknowledge
▪ Their refusal to acknowledge the hitherto unfair rating of widows, widowers and single people.
allow
▪ It didn't come back with a refusal and allow us to discuss alternative ways of achieving our objective.
▪ The blank and sometimes insolent refusal to allow a quicker group through is another malpractice becoming more prevalent.
▪ Lord Lane accepted that the refusal to allow Alladice a lawyer was quite improper and a clear breach of section 58.
▪ So a blind obstinate energy kept her constant in her refusal to allow any eventuality to mar her Love Affair.
▪ But Mr Museveni's most dangerous failure is destined to be his refusal to allow opposition groups to organise.
answer
▪ A refusal to answer questions for example, could, in the absence of reasonable excuse, amount to contempt of court.
▪ In other cases we must be careful that questions will not result in refusals to answer.
▪ Actual refusals to answer questions are always, in practice, fewer than might be expected.
▪ Iago's refusal to answer that question puts him outside human society for ever.
consider
▪ But a blind refusal to consider alternatives is negatively based on fear, ignorance, deeply embedded convictions or insularity.
▪ This second refusal was considered by the Chamber in a heated session on the first of June.
▪ A defendant can combat an obstinate refusal even to consider compromise by a shrewd payment into court, or a Calderbank offer.
follow
▪ The shock move follows his refusal to speak at a trial on the fate of the banned Communist Party.
▪ The appeal follows the refusal of planning permission by this Council.
grant
▪ A right of first refusal was granted to former land and home owners when their expropriated property came on the market.
▪ The next question is whether such action is taken in relation to the grant or refusal to grant a further loan.
let
▪ Major's attachment to free market doctrine has been loosened by the public's refusal to let short-termism shut Britain's pits.
▪ She nodded her head slowly, as if she went along with his refusal to let her read it.
▪ It is less a question of efficiency or cleanliness than a refusal to let past and present blur together.
meet
▪ In many cases where a request has been made, it has met with a flat refusal.
▪ But he met with an invariable refusal.
pay
▪ Behind these arrears is evidence of a collective refusal to pay, which the bishop's officers could not overcome.
▪ Would his refusal to pay hurt him in further business dealings?
▪ Next term there will be a student campaign of refusal to pay tuition fees.
▪ Their judicial proclamations range from grandiloquent declarations of sovereign citizenship to lowly refusals to pay speeding tickets.
▪ Many of the people who try to file similar papers are driven by their refusal to pay taxes, Martin said.
point
▪ My Member of Parliament responded to my appeal by pointing out that their refusal is in line with the law.
recognise
▪ His argument seemed to be based fearlessly on the refusal to recognise what is already public knowledge about our plans.
sign
▪ It follows the film star's refusal to sign an agreement covering his twice-weekly meetings with the boy.
▪ Bonds irritates many writers because of his rudeness, and he turns off some fans with his refusal to sign autographs.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a flat refusal/denial etc
▪ In many cases where a request has been made, it has met with a flat refusal.
▪ One or other of them drafted a statement which was a flat denial that he had misbehaved either sexually or politically.
▪ She had not anticipated a flat refusal.
▪ There'd been a chorus of objection then and a flat refusal from Becky to stay with the younger children.
have/give sb first refusal on sth
stubborn resistance/refusal/determination etc
▪ After two-and-a-half years of stubborn resistance, the Republic collapsed rapidly during the first three months of 1939.
▪ As the family kept vigil, the children saw at close quarters the stubborn determination of their stepmother.
▪ However, Wainwright offered stubborn resistance, and responded with some hard hitting from the baseline to level the score at 6-6.
▪ Perhaps it was her stubborn refusal to see her family broken up that made Mrs Breen appealing to Farnham.
▪ There was no cheering on the part of the men, but a stubborn determination to obey orders and do their duty.
▪ What accounted for this stubborn resistance of nationalities to the predicted assimilation?
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
Refusal to do military service was a criminal offence.
▪ He was upset by her refusal.
▪ His request for a bigger room met with a blunt refusal.
▪ She must understand the consequences of her refusal to accept medical treatment.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ His argument seemed to be based fearlessly on the refusal to recognise what is already public knowledge about our plans.
▪ It is a restlessness, a refusal to longterm relationships, that has typified both his public and private life.
▪ Kelly Johnson was a curmudgeon, but he was revered at the Skunk Works for his refusal to compromise about airplanes.
▪ The great imperial Zanuck was not amused at Boyo Burton's refusal and tried to force his hand.
▪ There'd been a chorus of objection then and a flat refusal from Becky to stay with the younger children.
▪ There was an association between refusal and having a younger sibling.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Refusal

Refusal \Re*fus"al\ (-al), n.

  1. The act of refusing; denial of anything demanded, solicited, or offered for acceptance.

    Do they not seek occasion of new quarrels, On my refusal, to distress me more?
    --Milton.

  2. The right of taking in preference to others; the choice of taking or refusing; option; as, to give one the refusal of a farm; to have the refusal of an employment.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
refusal

late 15c., from refuse + -al (2).

Wiktionary
refusal

n. 1 The act of refusing. 2 (context civil engineering English) Depth or point at which well or borehole drilling cannot continue.

WordNet
refusal
  1. n. the act of refusing

  2. a message refusing to accept something that is offered

Wikipedia
Refusal (horse)

In horse riding, a refusal is the failure of a horse to jump a fence to which he/she is presented. This includes any stop in forward motion. A runout occurs when the horse quickly slides past or "ducks out" of a fence instead of jumping it, without stopping forward motion.

Refusal

Refusal is lack of agreement to perform a particular course of action.

Refusal can also mean:

  • A refusal can be indicated by the word no
  • Refusal (horse), a concept in equestrian activities occurs when a horse will not jump or cross over an obstacle.
  • Refusal of work
  • Refusal to deal
  • Refusal of medical assistance
  • Refusal skills
  • Driven to refusal, an engineering/surveying term used in pile-driving.
  • Disulfiram, by the trade name Refusal

Usage examples of "refusal".

A tumultuous anarchy of five days was appeased by the inauguration of Ali: his refusal would have provoked a general massacre.

It was known that President Johnson was deeply offended by the indirect refusal of the House to pass any resolution in the remotest degree approving his course.

She meant to talk with Stilwell about Randy and Barth, his take on their refusal to provide backup, but she found herself unable to bring the subject up.

A point-blank excuseless refusal was, while possible, a senseless course.

They were deaf to disaffection, blind to the alternative ideas it gave rise to, blandly impervious to challenge, unconcerned by the dismay at their misconduct and the rising wrath at their misgovernment, fixed in refusal to change, almost stupidly stubborn in maintaining a corrupt existing system.

Specifically, the Court in the Senn Case gave its approval to the application of a Wisconsin statute which authorized the giving of publicity to labor disputes, declared peaceful picketing and patrolling lawful, and prohibited the granting of injunctions against such conduct to a controversy in which the matter at issue was the refusal of a tiling contractor employing nonunion workmen to sign a closed shop agreement unless a provision requiring him to abstain from working in his business as a tile layer or helper should be eliminated.

For the remainder of his life he was known for his bravery as a soldier, his refusal to discuss the war, his prescience about human events and his irreverence toward all those who seek authority and power over others.

The refusal of a great many of his characters, among them Jacques, Jakub, Tomas, Sabina or Rubens, to procreate, must be considered in the light of this paradox.

In some schools pupils who are diffident about reciting, or who do not care to take the trouble, shake their heads in refusal almost before they hear the question in full.

Whether this refusal results from absorption in other employment or from some superstitious belief, it is a violation of the will of our Maker, and the consequent suffering and dissolution are the retributive hell or reflex signals, painfully pointing out our duty.

Russian past, with its shameful heritage of serfdom, or their refusal to acknowledge the achievements of contemporary Russian literature.

Morgan from the chairmanship of TVA for refusal to produce evidence in substantiation of charges which he had levelled at his fellow directors.

Surely the man could not be so silly as to add my refusal last night to my refusal to go to Thirl and believe I was angry about something?

The mass refusal of the disciplinary regime, which took a variety of forms, was not only a negative expression but also a moment of creation, what Nietzsche calls a transvaluation of values.

His few unswayed refusals have led to awakening to himself hard in her mouth, in her hand, or between her legs.