Confute

by Posted on

Disprove or discredit an idea or proof.

Sim­i­lar to *refute*, but with stronger con­no­ta­tion. A refu­ta­tion is an asser­tion; confu­ta­tion is sub­stan­ti­at­ed and proven.

Found in one of the foot­notes of *The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire*.

> He rep­re­sents with can­dour and con­futes with sub­tle­ty, the opin­ions of the philosophers.

Published by splicer

2 Replies to “Confute”

  1. Hey, a new one to me! Cool!
    Hey, a new one to me! Cool! I was get­ting pret­ty smug since I’d known all the ones you post­ed so far…

  2. p.s. Here’s one for you:
    p.s. Here’s one for you: “dec­i­mate” does not mean – or at least did not orig­i­nal­ly mean, although a descrip­tive gram­mar­i­an would argue that the mean­ing is chang­ing now – “to utter­ly destroy”. Strict­ly speak­ing, it means “to kill one tenth of”. Almost nobody uses the word in its orig­i­nal sense any­more. (See http://www.bartleby.com/61/35/D0073500.html)