Library / English Dictionary

DENY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: denied   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Declare untrue; contradict

Example:

She denied that she had taken money

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "deny" is one way to...):

contradict; contravene; negate (deny the truth of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deny"):

disclaim (make a disclaimer about)

repudiate (reject as untrue, unfounded, or unjust)

disavow (refuse to acknowledge; disclaim knowledge of; responsibility for, or association with)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They deny that there was a traffic accident

Antonym:

admit (declare to be true or admit the existence or reality or truth of)

Derivation:

denial (the act of asserting that something alleged is not true)

denier (one who denies)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Refuse to accept or believe

Example:

He denied his fatal illness

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "deny" is one way to...):

disown; renounce; repudiate (cast off)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deny"):

abnegate (deny or renounce)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They deny that there was a traffic accident

Derivation:

denier (one who denies)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Refuse to recognize or acknowledge

Example:

Peter denied Jesus

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "deny" is one way to...):

disavow (refuse to acknowledge; disclaim knowledge of; responsibility for, or association with)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

denier (one who denies)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Deny formally (an allegation of fact by the opposing party) in a legal suit

Synonyms:

deny; traverse

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Domain category:

law; practice of law (the learned profession that is mastered by graduate study in a law school and that is responsible for the judicial system)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

denial (a defendant's answer or plea denying the truth of the charges against him)

denier (one who denies)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Refuse to let have

Example:

he denies her her weekly allowance

Synonyms:

deny; refuse

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "deny" is one way to...):

hold on; keep (retain possession of)

Verb group:

abnegate; deny (deny oneself (something); restrain, especially from indulging in some pleasure)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deny"):

keep back; withhold (hold back; refuse to hand over or share)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody something

Sentence example:

They deny them the money

Antonym:

allow (let have)

Derivation:

denier (one who denies)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Deny oneself (something); restrain, especially from indulging in some pleasure

Example:

She denied herself wine and spirits

Synonyms:

abnegate; deny

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "deny" is one way to...):

check; contain; control; curb; hold; hold in; moderate (lessen the intensity of; temper; hold in restraint; hold or keep within limits)

Verb group:

deny; refuse (refuse to let have)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody something

Derivation:

denial (renunciation of your own interests in favor of the interests of others)

denier (one who denies)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Refuse to grant, as of a petition or request

Example:

the prisoners were denied the right to exercise for more than 2 hours a day

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "deny" is one way to...):

keep back; withhold (hold back; refuse to hand over or share)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody something

Derivation:

denial (the act of refusing to comply (as with a request))

denier (one who denies)

Credits

 Context examples: 

"What I mean is: if you love me, how does it happen that you love me now so much more than you did when your love was weak enough to deny me?"

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Let me see that I excite the sympathy of some existing thing; do not deny me my request!

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

I know, sir, I know; but it shook me, sir, and there’s no use to deny it.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Yet I will not deny that you have pictured the castle as well as I could have done myself, and I am full of wonderment at all that I have heard and seen.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I hardly know what I said to him, but the facts were so deadly that he did not attempt to deny his guilt.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And now, you who have so long been bound to the most narrow and material views, you who have denied the virtue of transcendental medicine, you who have derided your superiors—behold!

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

And I'll not deny neither but what some of my people was shook—maybe all was shook; maybe I was shook myself; maybe that's why I'm here for terms.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

At first, of course, he denied everything.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“I don’t mean to deny that the evidence is in some ways very strongly in favour of your theory,” said he.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The servants deny having seen it before, but among the numerous curiosities in the house it is possible that it may have been overlooked.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)