də̇ˈnī, dēˈ- transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
Etymology: Middle English denyen, from Old French denier, denoier, from Latin denegare, from de- + negare to say no, deny — more at negation
1.
a. : to declare untrue : assert to be untenable : contradict
the suspect denied the charge
denying that the explanation was true
b. logic : to assert the negative or contradictory of
2. : to refuse to recognize or acknowledge : withhold acknowledgment from : disclaim connection with, allegiance to, or responsibility to or for : disavow , renounce
an apostate denying his faith
3.
a. : to turn down or give a negative answer to (a person)
hard to deny an eager child
denying the petitioners
b. : to refuse to grant : withhold
the king denied his vassal's plea
the leave was denied to him
denied the child the candy
c. : to restrain (oneself) from gratification of wishes or desires : restrain (oneself) from self-indulgence
denying herself any fun in life
4. archaic
a. : decline — used with an infinitive
b. : to refuse or withhold permission to : preclude occasion for or occurrence of
5.
a. obsolete : to withhold acceptance of
b. obsolete : to withhold admittance to, greeting to, or acknowledgment of
c. : to withhold acknowledging presence of to a caller
the doctor did not wish to see the woman and told the nurse to deny him
6. : to refuse to accept the existence, truth, or validity of
denying the appearances of gods
denying witchcraft as an effective force
7. : to make a bridge bid in no-trump or a suit different from (that bid by one's partner) in order to show inability to raise or support the partner's bid
denying his partner's spades
Synonyms:
gainsay , contradict , negative , traverse , impugn , contravene : deny implies a refusal, usually outspoken, to accept as true, to grant or concede, or to acknowledge the existence or the claims of
deny an accusation
deny the possibility of peaceful coexistence
history cannot be denied — James King
gainsay , not now common in speech, implies opposition by a disputing of what someone else has said
it cannot be gainsaid that cormorants are fish-eaters — C.L.Barrett
no one would gainsay the right of anyone, the royal American right, to protest — W.A.White
contradict , implying a flatter denial of the truth of an assertion, or a fact that lends itself to assertion, than does gainsay , commonly suggests that the contrary of an assertion is true or that the assertion is totally untrue
nobody would have contradicted an assertion that it really was so — Thomas Hardy
sales of that sort contradicted the spirit of the Homestead Act — R.A.Billington
negative is variable in its force but is often a mild term implying a refusal to assent
it was not due to the banks that their request for loans was negatived — L.W.Mints
he emphatically negatived the movement to nominate him as vice-president — Jonas Viles
traverse , chiefly a legal term in this sense, implies a formal denial, as of the truth of an allegation or the justice of an indictment
to traverse the decision of the House in rejecting a reasoned amendment on the second reading of the bill — T.E.May
it traverses the theory of the Court in the Belmont and Pink cases — E.S.Corwin
impugn implies very strongly a direct, commonly insulting, disputing, questioning, or contradicting
did not hesitate to challenge when he considered his honor impugned — J.A.Robertson
his accuracy had often been impugned, his authority challenged — Osbert Sitwell
to impugn the reality of the world as known to science — W.R.Inge
contravene implies strongly a coming into conflict but implies less strongly than the other terms an intentional opposition, suggesting rather some inherent incompatibility
he could not strike out in any direction without wounding his wife or his friends, without contravening some loyalty that had become sacred to him — Van Wyck Brooks
the power to abrogate actions of the constituent republics which contravene laws or decrees of the central government — F.A.Ogg & Harold Zink