different between obey vs refuse

English

Etymology

From Middle English obeyen, from Anglo-Norman obeir, obeier et al., Old French obeir, from Latin oboedi? (also ob?di? (“to listen to, harken, usually in extended sense, obey, be subject to, serve”)), from ob- (“before, near”) + audi? (“to hear”). Compare audient. In Latin, ob + audire would have been expected to become Classical Latin *ob?di? (compare in + claud? becoming incl?d?), but it has been theorized that the usual law court associations of the word for obeying encouraged a false archaism from ? to oe, to oboedi? (compare Old Latin oinos ? Classical Latin ?nus).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /o??be?/, /??be?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???be?/, /??be?/
• Rhymes: -e?
• Hyphenation: obey

Verb

obey (third-person singular simple present obeys, present participle obeying, simple past and past participle obeyed)

1. (transitive) To do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of.
2. (intransitive) To do as one is told.
3. (obsolete, intransitive) To be obedient, compliant (to a given law, restriction etc.).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.iv:

     They were all taught by Triton, to obay / To the long raynes, at her commaundement [...].

Synonyms

• hearken

Antonyms

• disobey
• defy
• rebel
• resist
• violate (especially rules)

Related terms

• obedience
• obedient
• obeisance

Translations

Further reading

• obey in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• obey in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

References

Anagrams

• e-boy, yebo

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed into late Middle English from Middle French refusé, past participle of refuser (“to refuse”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: r?f?yo?os, IPA^(key): /???fju?s/

Adjective

refuse (comparative more refuse, superlative most refuse)

1. Discarded, rejected.

Noun

refuse (uncountable)

1. Collectively, items or material that have been discarded; rubbish, garbage.

Synonyms

• discards
• garbage (US)
• rubbish (UK)
• trash (US)
• See also Thesaurus:trash

Translations

Etymology 2

From Old French refuser, from Vulgar Latin *refusare, a blend of Classical Latin refut? and recus?.

Pronunciation

• enPR: r?fyo?oz?, IPA^(key): /???fju?z/
• Rhymes: -u?z

Verb

refuse (third-person singular simple present refuses, present participle refusing, simple past and past participle refused)

1. (transitive) To decline (a request or demand).

2. (intransitive) To decline a request or demand, forbear; to withhold permission.
3. (military) To throw back, or cause to keep back (as the centre, a wing, or a flank), out of the regular alignment when troops are about to engage the enemy.

4. (obsolete, transitive) To disown.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Synonyms

• (decline): decline, reject, nill, say no to, turn down, veto, withsake, withsay
• (decline a request or demand): say no, forbear

Translations

Noun

refuse

1. (obsolete) refusal

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Fairfax to this entry?)

Etymology 3

re- +? fuse

Pronunciation

• enPR: r?fyo?oz?, IPA^(key): /?i??fju?z/
• Rhymes: -u?z

Verb

refuse (third-person singular simple present refuses, present participle refusing, simple past and past participle refused)

1. To melt again.

Related terms

• refusion

French

Verb

refuse

1. inflection of refuser:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Anagrams

• férues

Latin

Participle

ref?se

1. vocative masculine singular of ref?sus

References

• refuse in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press