deny
//dɪˈnaɪ//
Forms
- present (v1)
- deny
- past (v2)
- denied
- past participle (v3)
- denied
- present participle
- denying
- 3rd person singular
- denies
Definitions
1.To disallow or reject.
- I wanted to go to the party, but I was denied.
2.To assert that something is not true.
- I deny that I was at the party.
- Everyone knows he committed the crime, but he still denies it.
3.To refuse to give or grant something to someone.
- My father denied me a good education.
- To some men, it is more agreeable to deny a vicious inclination, than to gratify it.
- A mother who urgently needs a kidney transplant has branded the system which denied her the organs of her dying daughter as "ridiculous".
4.To take something away from someone; to deprive of.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1477
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Uncommon
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English denyen, from Old French denoier (“to deny, to repudiate”) (French dénier), from Latin denegare (“to deny, to refuse”), from de- (“away”) and negare (“to refuse”), the latter ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *né (“no, not”).
Doublet of denegate.