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Many English verbs begin with the prefix re-, meaning “again” or “backward,” so we wouldn’t criticize you for drawing a connection between rebuff and buff, a verb meaning “to polish or shine.” But rebuff would beg to differ: this word comes to us from the Middle French verb rebuffer, which traces back to the Old Italian ribuffare, meaning “to reprimand.” (Buff, in contrast, comes from the Middle French noun buffle, meaning “wild ox”). A similar word, rebuke, shares the “criticize” sense of rebuff, but not the “reject” sense; one can rebuke another’s actions or policies, but one does not rebuke the advances of another, for example. Like rebuke, rebuff can also be used as a noun, as in “The proposal was met with a stern rebuff from the Board of Trustees.”
Examples of rebuff in a Sentence
Andrew Graham, Sacbee.com, 5 Feb. 2026
Courts and Congress have rebuffed him.
—Marissa Martinez, NBC news, 4 Feb. 2026
His officials have cut billions of dollars in Harvard’s federal research funding and attempted to block it from enrolling foreign students after the campus rebuffed a series of government demands last April.
—Collin Binkley, Chicago Tribune, 3 Feb. 2026
Several attempts to contact her went unanswered or were rebuffed by Washington.
—Steven Martinez, jsonline.com, 3 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for rebuff
Cite this Entry
“Rebuff.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rebuff. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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