What's the difference between disavow and refuse?

Disavow


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To refuse strongly and solemnly to own or acknowledge; to deny responsibility for, approbation of, and the like; to disclaim; to disown; as, he was charged with embezzlement, but he disavows the crime.
  • (v. t.) To deny; to show the contrary of; to disprove.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The former Massachusetts governor, like many Republicans, expected the Trump campaign to implode last summer, after he insulted Mexicans and said Arizona senator and 2008 Republican nominee John McCain was not a “war hero” because “I like people who weren’t captured.” This year, days after Trump did not immediately disavow an expression of support from David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, Romney said one of his sons was driving him to an airport when he asked: “When the grandkids ask ‘What did you do to stop Donald Trump ?’ what are you going to say?’” Facebook Twitter Pinterest Romney launches extensive attack on Trump: ‘A genius he is not’ That, Romney said, was the final push.
  • (2) In fact, not only have the teams that failed to qualify not been invited to play, for if they were that would contradict the elitist terms of the qualification that are disavowed so cunningly here by Pitbull, but also in reality, only Fifa functionaries, Brazilian bureaucrats and half the BBC will get into Brazil's stadiums gratis this summer.
  • (3) He has since disavowed that approach and, for nearly two years, has advocated for a piecemeal approach to immigration reform that begins with enforcement at the border.
  • (4) He begins his first-person narrative in words that echo the famous opening of Twain’s novel ( No 23 in this series ), a frank disavowal of “all that David Copperfield kind of crap”.
  • (5) Becoming "nice" isn't a natural process, and all sorts of things have to be disavowed along the way.
  • (6) UN, human rights groups and refugee groups demand solutions following Nauru data leak – as it happened Read more Giles did not disavow the policy Labor resolved at the national conference but he said: “That material shows [the immigration minister] Peter Dutton’s claims that asylum seekers are safe are baseless.
  • (7) Earlier this month, Jenny McCarthy, the anti-vaccine movement's loudest proponent, disavowed her earlier arguments .
  • (8) Europe and US urge Turkey to respect rule of law after failed coup Read more The statements by opposition leaders and top military officers, including army commanders, disavowing the coup sealed its fate.
  • (9) Nicknamed “Mad Dog”, though he has disavowed the label, the former Marine Corps general has criticised the Barack Obama administration for surrendering US leadership in the world and expressed strong support for Nato.
  • (10) In Damascus, still a stronghold of the Syrian president, there was little faith on Saturday that rebel groups would honour elements of the deal to disavow extremism.
  • (11) Recently, Scott Alpert, a former treatment provider at a Malibu facility, penned a scathing disavowal: "At the Malibu treatment centre where I worked, the focus was on caring for the client's creature comforts instead of healing their core issues that contributed to their substance abuse, alcohol abuse, or other addictive behaviour.
  • (12) They are an imminent threat to every interest we have, whether it’s in Iraq or anywhere else.” Hagel said Isis, also kown as Isil, which began as al-Qaida’s Iraq affiliate before being disavowed last year over its brutality, was a calibre above previous terrorist organisations the US has faced.
  • (13) McCorvey, who has since disavowed abortion, told Fox News: "I'm a peaceful protester, but if they come, they'll just take me away."
  • (14) The immigration minister declined an invitation by television presenter Andrew Bolt to disavow all immigration from the Middle East, or to screen people for “cultural compatibility” with Australia.
  • (15) The history of child sexual abuse, whether viewed by parent via child, therapist via patient, or adult survivor via the child within, is one of unimaginable pain and betrayal masked by adult distancing, disavowal, victim blame, and identification with the aggressor.
  • (16) In a hastily-convened press conference, the Republican presidential candidate confirmed the authenticity of the video and opted against disavowing the views expressed in it.
  • (17) Among MPs, his appointment was seen as a disavowal of Corbyn’s commitment to create a political consensus.
  • (18) In the symptoms the author observed signs of defective personality functioning such as disavowal of reality, low anxiety tolerance, various forms of identity disturbances.
  • (19) Man behind RRS Boaty McBoatface disavows his name for polar vessel Read more The name was first put forward by former BBC radio presenter James Hand, who expressed surprise at the furore Boaty McBoatface has caused.
  • (20) First preparation camps For the mujahid on the day he joins the Islamic State, whether as a muhajir or from the ansar: and the camp includes sharia sessions through which the mujahid studies the fiqh [jurisprudence] of the rulings, Islamic doctrine, al-wala’ and al-bara’ [loyalty and disavowal], in addition to the arts of fighting and the arts of using weapons, with screening of every mujahid in a specialty in which he excels and completing his camp according to his skill in specific weapons.

Refuse


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To deny, as a request, demand, invitation, or command; to decline to do or grant.
  • (v. t.) To throw back, or cause to keep back (as the center, a wing, or a flank), out of the regular aligment when troops ar/ about to engage the enemy; as, to refuse the right wing while the left wing attacks.
  • (v. t.) To decline to accept; to reject; to deny the request or petition of; as, to refuse a suitor.
  • (v. t.) To disown.
  • (v. i.) To deny compliance; not to comply.
  • (n.) Refusal.
  • (n.) That which is refused or rejected as useless; waste or worthless matter.
  • (a.) Refused; rejected; hence; left as unworthy of acceptance; of no value; worthless.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) We were instantly refused entrance by the heavies at the door.
  • (2) There are widespread examples across the US of the police routinely neglecting crimes of sexual violence and refusing to believe victims.
  • (3) Such a science puts men in a couple of scientific laws and suppresses the moment of active doing (accepting or refusing) as a sufficient preassumption of reality.
  • (4) There were no deaths but one refused to have ketamine again.
  • (5) That’s a criticism echoed by Democrats in the Senate, who issued a report earlier this month criticising Republicans for passing sweeping legislation in July to combat addiction , the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (Cara), but refusing to fund it.
  • (6) She successfully appealed against the council’s decision to refuse planning permission, but neighbours have launched a legal challenge to be heard at the high court in June.
  • (7) Tony Abbott has refused to concede that saying Aboriginal people who live in remote communities have made a “lifestyle choice” was a poor choice of words as the father of reconciliation issued a public plea to rebuild relations with Indigenous people.
  • (8) The military is not being honest about the number of men on strike: most of us are refusing to eat.
  • (9) But employers who have followed a fair procedure may have the right to discipline or finally dismiss any smoker who refuses to accept the new rules.
  • (10) Republican presidential hopeful Scott Walker has refused to say whether he believes in the theory of evolution, arguing that it is “a question a politician shouldn’t be involved in one way or the other”.
  • (11) But in a setback to the UK, Somaliland, which broke away from Somalia in 1991, refused British entreaties to attend on the grounds that it would not have been treated as equal to the Somali government.
  • (12) Ten patients had been treated by adrenalectomy, one patient by radiotherapy of the hypophysis, and one patient had refused any treatment.
  • (13) What if the court of justice refuses to answer the question?
  • (14) The only thing the media will talk about in the hours and days after the debate will be Trump’s refusal to say he will accept the results of the election, making him appear small, petty and conspiratorial.
  • (15) A small band of shadow cabinet members have lined up to refuse to serve in posts they haven’t even been offered, on the basis of objection to economic policies they clearly haven’t read.
  • (16) The prerequisite for all champions is the refusal to cave in, so City's equaliser with only three minutes remaining was pleasing.
  • (17) Black males with low intentions to use condoms reported significantly more negative attitudes about the use of condoms (eg, using condoms is disgusting) and reacted with more intense anger when their partners asked about previous sexual contacts, when a partner refused sex without a condom, or when they perceived condoms as interfering with foreplay and sexual pleasure.
  • (18) As long as Israel refuses to cease settlement activities and to the release of the fourth group of Palestinian prisoners in accordance with our agreements, they leave us no choice but to insist that we will not remain the only ones committed to the implementation of these agreements, while Israel continuously violates them,” Abbas said.
  • (19) The people who will lose are not the commercial interests, and people with particular vested interests, it’s the people who pay for us, people who love us, the 97% of people who use us each week, there are 46 million people who use us every day.” Hall refused to be drawn on what BBC services would be cut as a result of the funding deal which will result in at least a 10% real terms cut in the BBC’s funding.
  • (20) These letters are also written during a period when Joyce was still smarting from the publishing difficulties of his earlier works Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.” Gordon Bowker, Joyce’s biographer, agreed: “Joyce’s problem with the UK printers related to the fact that here in those days printers were as much at risk of prosecution on charges of publishing obscenities as were publishers, and would simply refuse to print them.